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What's the scariest natural disaster footage you've ever seen?

Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:03 am
Posted by Govt Tide
Member since Nov 2009
9596 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:03 am
Made the mistake of going down the rabbit hole of a couple of heavily video documented natural disasters recently and my algorithm is flooded with them (no pun intended)...

What video documented natural disaster fascinates or horrifies you the most? For me it's probably the 2011 Japanese tsunami. The videos from that event are absolutely mind blowing. What made this tsunami so scary was how quickly and stealthily the sea level rose without it being obvious until it was too late. Then once the sea level topped the sea protective sea walls in many of the harbors the massive surge with even higher waves on top followed sending a massive powerful raging river of water well inland sweeping homes, large buildings, huge ships, and mountains of debris raging throughout the city. Can't imagine how horrifying it would have been first and most obviously to the unfortunate people caught up and swept away and then to the survivors who watched their city being totally destroyed knowing their homes and businesses were being destroyed and knowing many of their family members and friends were being killed. Can't imagine some of the horrible things survivors saw in the immediate aftermath of that disaster.

On a personal level, I didn't lose any property or loved ones in either the April 27th, 2011 Super Outbreak or Hurricane Katrina like some of you on TD did but I did have family and friends who lived in both those areas when those two disasters occurred. My father lived near Lake Tuscaloosa during the 2011 Super Outbreak and although he and I weren't personally affected he did an impromptu ride along to relieve a firefighter/first responder whose wife was going into labor a couple of days after the Tuscaloosa tornado and actually helped carry 3 dead bodies out of one of the hard hit neighborhoods off 15th street. He wasn't ready for that obviously and broke down in tears heading home that night. I went up to Tuscaloosa a few days to donate some supplies and was shocked by the level of damage I saw.

My brother and SIL lived near Destrehan during Katrina and fortunately only had minor damage and no flooding where they were. They left and went to stay with family in Florida during the hurricane so they didn't experience the storm itself. My brother met my dad in Alabama and the surreal part was them having to detour way out of the normal way back from Tuscaloosa to the Destrahan area via Jackson, MS and I-55 instead of the normal route down I-59 via Hattiesburg due to I-10 being impassable in New Orleans and them carrying weapons in case of any potential looting in my brother's neighborhood. The surreal part was remembering what my brother told me only a few months earlier when we had stopped at a Rouses between New Orleans and Metairie on the way home from the French Quarter Festival that day. I asked him what that area would look like if/when "the big one" hit and he said the parking lot we were in that day would be under several feet of water and it wasn't a matter of if that would happen but when. It still gives me chills knowing that it actually happened only a few months later.

P.S. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was far deadlier and is the deadliest natural disaster ever documented but there aren't nearly as many videos of that disaster as there are of the 2011 Japanese tsunami.

This post was edited on 6/20/26 at 10:30 am
Posted by Stexas
SWLA
Member since May 2013
7054 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:04 am to
Aren’t you all sunshine and rainbows on this muggy Saturday morning!
Posted by billjamin
Houston
Member since Jun 2019
18564 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:04 am to
I’ve seen some pretty terrifying shite online and it usually starts with someone yelling “worldstar”.
Posted by jdd48
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2012
23939 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:08 am to
As mentioned, footage of the 2011 Japanese tsunami is really crazy, but this one in particular, specifically when he zooms in on the wave face around 40 seconds.

This post was edited on 6/20/26 at 10:09 am
Posted by Tiger Ike
SW Louisiana
Member since Aug 2013
1734 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:23 am to
I think the 2004 tsunami footage on the Thailand beach might take the prize.
Posted by Govt Tide
Member since Nov 2009
9596 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:47 am to
quote:

I think the 2004 tsunami footage on the Thailand beach might take the prize.


Yep. A couple of the videos showing the tsunami arriving in Banda Aceh are about as horrifying as you can get. The sheer mass of debris that wave was pushing inland and the pitch black color of water was terrifying.

What made some of the Japanese videos so scary to me was how rapidly a lot of them went from a barely noticeable water level rise to a massive, raging river of unstoppable water filled with massive amounts of debris in a matter of only a few minutes
Posted by SuperSaint
Sorting Out OT BS Since '2007'
Member since Sep 2007
150774 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:48 am to
The Sri Lanka Tsunami footage back in 2004 was pretty amazing to me. So I wasn’t as surprised when the Japanese Tsunami in 2011. Also the Japanese seemed to be much more educated. You had tourist and Sri Lankians going check out the beach when the water line started receding.
Posted by OldSouth
Folsom, LA
Member since Oct 2011
11014 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:49 am to
quote:

2004 tsunami footage
This. Truly disturbing and something I still think about.
Posted by Rex Feral
Somewhere near Athens
Member since Jan 2014
16827 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:50 am to
Being caught in a pyroclastic flow. The good thing is you’re incinerated after a coupe seconds.



Posted by cypresstiger
The South
Member since Aug 2008
14206 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:56 am to
Mount St Helens 1980
LINK
Posted by Who_Dat_Tiger
Member since Nov 2015
25855 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 10:56 am to
Seeing a tsunami crash up against a cliff side really shows how high those waves are. This footage from eastern Russia was surreal

Posted by GeauxLSUGeaux
1 room down from Erin Andrews
Member since May 2004
25689 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:01 am to
Posted by Ailsa
Member since May 2020
9668 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:08 am to
quote:


Being caught in a pyroclastic flow. The good thing is you’re incinerated after a coupe seconds


No one could outrun it...I wonder how far they travel?

quote:

A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving, ground-hugging avalanche of hot gas, ash, and rock fragments erupting from a volcano. These extremely destructive currents are incredibly dense and lethal, moving at speeds often exceeding 100 mph (160 km/h) with temperatures up to 1,000°C (1,832°F).
Posted by thumperpait
Member since Nov 2005
3973 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:16 am to
That guy died filming that tornado
Posted by Hangover Haven
Metry
Member since Oct 2013
34025 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:23 am to
Not so much a natural disaster, but I can’t watch those cave rescue videos or documentaries of people getting trapped in caves… Screw that..
Posted by Everyday Is Saturday
Member since Dec 2025
1984 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:24 am to
1989 San Francisco Earthquake and videos of Embarcadero that crushed cars in between double decker bridge. Slow death for some of those poor people.

Meaningful, maybe not scariest, b/c drove over Bay Bridge years later to move there for work. Held my breath most of the way. Earthquakes happen any minute in my mind.
This post was edited on 6/20/26 at 11:26 am
Posted by Porter Osborne Jr
Member since Sep 2012
43923 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:31 am to
quote:

I think the 2004 tsunami footage on the Thailand beach might take the prize.


This was my first thought
Posted by Gee Grenouille
Member since Jul 2018
8240 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:37 am to
quote:

What's the scariest natural disaster footage you've ever seen?


Accidentally clicked on Oweo's post history once.

As soon as I saw your thread title I thought about the Tsunami. Also what little video there is of Mt St Helens.
Posted by bamarep
Member since Nov 2013
52590 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:39 am to
The tsunami videos for me.

You see it, you know it's coming, you know it's going to be bad, and there isn't shite you can do about it.
Posted by SpqrTiger
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2004
9739 posts
Posted on 6/20/26 at 11:43 am to
The tsunami takes the cake, but generally speaking… for me… it’s massive sinkholes or mudslides. Just the sudden appearance of them… it’s always shocking.
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