-[waves crashing] -[radio static]
[man] The following is a coastal flood warning
issued by the National Weather Service.
For the southern Seward Peninsula coast including Nome.
-[radio static] -[man on radio] Numerous roads will be closed.
Low-lying property including homes, businesses,
the airport and other critical infrastructure will be inundated.
We've got a big under due storm coming in.
An 11-17 foot storm surge.
I don't know if we're gonna make it.
Right now, it looks like an absolute warzone.
[sirens blaring]
[man] If my boat breaks off,
it'll start wiping out buildings.
Well, my tail boat has cut loose.
This is coming over the sea wall.
That's 20 feet.
-[loud crash] -Hey, watch out!
-[bleep] is flying off the building. -[sirens blaring]
[man] It'll be a wipeout for this town.
[strong winds blowing]
Beautiful sunny day, today.
It's the calm before the storm.
Once this storm hits,
we don't want to be trying to secure our boats
in the storm and put people's lives at risk.
We're gonna get our stuff,
get it secured, get everything where we want it to be.
We're getting prepped to protect
everything we've worked so hard to get.
Oh, I'm getting my crane outta here.
In case it floods.
And, I don't want it getting hammered with salt water.
Gonna get all the boats secured and tied together.
This is how we make a living,
we've got to protect what we've worked so hard to get.
It's coming.
And, it's gonna come in with some fury.
They're saying a 14-foot surge.
On the water.
It's gonna be bad. This could be bad for Nome.
We should probably get some lines.
Just for [bleep] and giggles.
From there to here,
And there to the see ark.
You got spuds
but it's always good to be tied off.
You never know what the hell is gonna happen.
How bad it's gonna really get, so...
Better be overprepared than underprepared.
Well, we got the Ofer.
Christine Rose, Myrtle.
Touveli and the tugboat.
We got all the boats secured to the Myrtle.
'Cause it's got big spuds.
Supposed to come up 15-foot.
If it comes up 15-foot,
it's gonna leave an annihilation of boats
and things in the harbor
but I'm pretty well protected down here.
The south wind should blow anybody else that way.
if the spuds come loose,
we've got lines to the dock.
On both sides.
We should be just fine.
So, right now, we're on the edge of it.
It's coming.
[seagulls squawking]
I just got a call from the harbor master
that I need to move my dredge
because they're trying to consolidate the space out here in the harbor.
So...
Yeah, I've got to find somewhere else
to park my dredge.
Gonna be a fat storm. It's gonna be a gnarly one.
[seagulls squawking]
[Chris] I just got to go out and check on the dredge from time to time.
Because it's gonna be like a...
I heard, a 70-hour storm, so...
Within that time frame,
I should check on it periodically.
The combines are crazy dusty.
[Chris] Oh, there you go.
It's a good spot to tie it up to.
Norpack.
See, that's good.
I'll just tie up to my dad's boat.
Perfect.
[motor whirring]
Yeah, looks like it's gonna be alright.
There we go.
Ta-da!
I think that'll work.
Yes, we're just gonna wait and see.
Come back and check.
So, Friday is just gonna be terrible.
I might have to evacuate.
They're calling-- They're calling for
evacuation on my street.
Because this-- The whole--
There's gonna be a bunch of street that they're gonna close down
due to the flood, you know what I mean?
And I'm part of that plan.
I'm in the flood zone.
So, yeah.
I might have to get the hell out of here.
Before I get swamped.
We got some weather coming in.
I can see it coming.
Port side, this is gonna be a big one.
Gonna be like, 70 knots.
I just bought this other dredge called The Eldorado.
I want to bring it in here and tie it up to the dock.
[Vernon] We've got to get this job done.
The weather's coming. You can see storm clouds back over there.
[motor whirring]
The birds being gathered like this,
definitely, they know something is coming.
Yo, Kevin? You want me to spin it that way?
[motor whirring]
[man on radio]
[Vernon] Okay, forward.
Well, here we go.
At least, she's moving.
We're on the way
and we're headed over here,
alongside the south wall.
We want it so we can stop when we get there.
Don't crash into the dock.
I've got a feeling that this storm that's coming through,
not everybody's gonna make the cut.
Storm of 1913 sunk a bunch of ships out here.
Caused a lot of damage. Flooded the city.
Chad's gets washed out at the graveyard.
Were floating up and down the streets.
It was a bad storm.
[Vernon] Okay, Kevin, just put it in neutral.
I've just got to get it in there real close.
And send you up a line.
Okay, little bit more on the engine.
Thrust left.
And dead slow on the engine.
Come ahead a little bit more.
[motor whirring]
[Vernon] Thrust left.
Okay, pull us in.
Just take it nice and easy and don't bang into anything.
Alright Kevin, that's good.
Okay, we're here.
Put down a couple more lines on this thing.
The water's gonna be coming in and so...
Nobody knows what's gonna happen.
[man] We need to go to the grocery store and soon.
And we need to buy cases of water.
The water's gonna be contaminated in this town.
If power goes down, everything goes down.
-[man] Yeah, yeah. -The wate-- The sewer,
the water that runs to your house.
The [bleeping], you know, the-- Everything.
So right now, there's a big storm headed for Nome.
We haven't seen a storm this size since the '70s.
So, the whole town is in red alert.
Everybody's talking between 12-15 foot waves
coming to hit Nome.
[Kris] It looks like the whole town's gonna be flooded.
And, we've got to make sure our boat
doesn't drift away.
Because, you know how high that wall is?
That we're climbing up and down the ladder?
The word on the street is that
the ocean's supposed to rise to that level.
And, my boat is gonna be floating like,
right on the ridge.
[Kris] Let's go back to work.
[Kris] So, I know for a fact,
that we're gonna run into problems tomorrow.
[Kris] So, big storms like this,
I've never been through one in Nome,
so, we're gonna have to play it by ear.
And, just be ready to fight.
Fight through the storm.
[Kris] Worst case scenario,
water level will be at the tip of this.
Worst case scenario.
Yeah, we're gonna have to clear everything off
of the top of the deck.
We need to tarp that box, that dog house.
'Cause that [bleep] thing's gonna probably blow away on us.
Andy?
We need to secure down that hydraulic hose
to make sure that it doesn't fall in the water.
-Ready? -[man] Hold on, hold on.
[Kris] We're in the middle of trying to get ready
for this 50-year storm.
Today, we're gonna take out the skip,
we're gonna get generators to each house
with 20 gallons of gas.
'Cause, right now, we just have to make sure
we have the necessities.
We ride out this storm.
We make sure we're on watch for the boat.
And, we make sure we're all okay and our neighbors.
Oh, for sure.
[Kris] Get that generator at my house.
[Kris] Right now, we're going into an extremely serious situation.
Gonna have to stay up 24 hours a day
because I can't lose my barge, no matter what.
Uhm, the wind's starting to pick up now.
The storm's arriving now.
You know, so we have to do something now.
If we're gonna do it, we got to act now.
The harbor's gonna be-- Be a disaster.
It's gonna be horrible.
[woman] It's within our power to prevent
serious-- Like sustaining serious damage to the boat.
We should probably pull it.
[sighs] Alright.
[chuckles nervously]
[woman] Well, look, if we pull the boat out,
we're either gonna look like the smartest people in Nome
or the dumbest people in Nome.
But, if it's like as bad or worse than what they're predicting
we're gonna look pretty damn smart.
So, it's a gamble, either way.
Alright, I'm gonna fire up the outboards.
Jay, can you hold us?
Hold the boat in place.
[Emily speaking]
[Emily exhales]
[Emily] We might be the only gold dredge left in town.
Wait, if we're the only mining operation...
[man on radio] Hey, scary...
It means that we are the best mining operation.
And the best looking.
[Emily] Hey, touch that anchor line.
Watch that [bleeping] anchor line.
-Need more out. -[Emily] Can you let more anchor line out?
[Jane]
[Emily] It's a circus show. Oh, my gosh.
It feels, kind of, odd to have the boat out of the water.
You know, normally, we're doing this when it's snowing outside
at the end of a long successful season, hopefully.
But, in this case,
you know, we made the call to pull the boat before the storm came.
By all accounts, it's gonna be a historic weather event
paired with a massive tidal surge.
So, when the weather calms down,
it's all over again.
We'll pull-- Put her back in and get back to work.
-[Emily] Good job everybody. -[man] Yes.
-[Emily] Good work. -Thanks.
Thanks guys.
That was awesome. Good job, Dan.
[Emily] That went as smoothly as it could have gone.
So, now we're out of the water and we wait.
[man] Waves are growing.
It's gonna get insane.
I've heard like, maybe the worst tidal surge
that Nome's ever seen.
So, I imagine, by Saturday,
there'll be water coming over this road right here.
Even these houses on the side,
on the sea wall here are gonna be in danger.
The storm hasn't even arrived.
This is just, like, preliminary waves
before the big surge comes in and the typhoon hits.
But the truck is already washed up on the rocks.
Usually there's a sand beach here.
But that truck is done.
[Shawn coughs]
[Shawn] Chuck?
You want to go grab that [bleeping] trailer?
You're a [bleeping] idiot...
He's a [bleeping] idiot.
Drove to the [bleeping] beach before the storm.
It got stuck and didn't get it out.
-Left it down here for what? -[machine whirring]
He's a [bleeping] idiot.
Trucks in Nome are few and far between.
They got a cable around the frame.
They're gonna start yarding on it.
See if they can [bleeping] pull it up.
Let's get the [bleep] away from this cable though.
-[man] -[Shawn]
[loud crash]
[Shawn]
[cranking noise]
[Shawn]
-[loud crash] -Get back.
[loud crash]
That [bleeping] thing will never run again.
Got the truck out of the ocean.
Now, we just got to load it up.
Get it out of this guy's yard.
Throw the cable in the back.
[bleeping] leaving a mess.
Alright, I've seen enough.
[Shawn] God, what a [bleeping] [bleep].
Whoo! It's windy out here.
[Vernon] Yeah, get that tied down as low as possible.
Because otherwise that grill will spin.
Alright, let's leave it like that.
[Vernon]
This is gonna be a hell of a blow.
They're saying this is gonna be
a 100-year storm.
It's about to blow.
Hurricane force winds.
It's about to be a 17-foot storm surge.
And 17 feet is
gonna put the water up even with this dam.
It's gonna put it over.
There's a possibility it just might flood.
Do something with that damn windmill, Kevin.
When the wind comes from the south,
it's gonna blow it over on top with the freaking blower.
So, either lash it off or take it down and move it.
This looks pretty good and simple.
I want to get one last on that side corner.
Over to that barge.
We do not want these fuel tanks
banging up against the sea wall.
Can you push off right there?
[man] Yeah.
Push off, get ready to take up the slack.
That'll do it for now.
Wait until the wind gets here.
This is only-- This is only a kiss.
Wait until you get the tongue.
[man] It's getting windy.
And just heinous outside.
There's like this typhoon.
That is spinning its way up
the Bering Sea.
And, is going to make a landfall in Nome.
In like, a few hours.
And, I don't think anyone really knows how to prepare for it.
Nobody-- I don't think anyone really knows what we're in for.
Yeah, you know...
[chuckles] There's not a whole lot you can do.
They're predicting that there's gonna be
like, tremendous property damage.
And that city infrastructure's probably gonna go down.
Power's gonna go down, communication's gonna go down.
I mean, I'm hoping it's not that bad.
Nobody wants a catastrophe.
All we can really do is just go check on our boats,
make sure they're tied up right.
Make sure that...
We've done everything we can do.
We're gonna go get some extra food
so we have some food for a few days.
Just ride it out.
[Zeke]
[Zeke] I've never dealt with this feeling, you know, where it's like...
There's a humbling force of nature
that's... Uh...
Coming your way.
I was looking at the-- You know, the weather picture
and the peak of the wind gusts
are supposed to happen for another 12 hours.
And, it's already getting rowdy.
Which means it's gonna build like this for the next 12 hours.
I mean, the water's only just started going up.
It's gonna keep going up and keep going up.
This is way worse than anything that I've seen.
I double checked this morning on my boat insurance.
Verified insurance policy is active.
[chuckles nervously]
[waves splashing]
[drilling]
[drilling continues]
[Chris] The storm is approaching Nome, tonight.
Trying to get the whip of the air. It's...
Something's not right.
Something's about to happen really big.
[seagulls squawking]
[Chris] We can already see all the waves.
They're starting to get bigger from the east.
I can see the water level is starting to rise too.
So, this is not a good sign.
Everybody's trying to board up their house
and covering up their windows.
And that, to me, just seeing that part
is making me more concerned about my place out here.
Because, I live by the river.
You know, and they're calling for a 14-foot...
Uhm, 14-foot wave so, my house is about
like, about 11-feet off the sea level.
So, there's a big, big chance
that I have to evacuate my house.
If I see water that up high, right here,
up to this deck,
then I think it's time to go, you know?
Right now, I can see the water already rising.
The way I can tell, because,
look at those dredge buckets over there.
They're already halfway in the water.
So, that's very alarming.
And, this is just the beginning of it,
you know, this is not it.
This is just the pre-game.
You know what I mean? It's crazy.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and drive around a little bit.
See if people are starting to get ready.
Then I'm gonna go and check on my dredge.
And then, at the same time,
I gotta check on my dad's dredge, too.
Yeah, let's go check those things out.
[Emily] I'm feeling good about our decision to pull the boat out.
I mean, it's looking really bad,
And I'm, kind of, shocked that nobody else pulled out.
You know?
Nobody else made a decision to pull out.
I had a chance.
So, I don't regret pulling the Eroica out.
It was like, a couple hours of trouble
versus, you know, losing the boat.
The harbor has never seen a storm
close to these portions.
And, there's a lot of just tiny boats
in the harbor that are sitting ducks
for whatever this storm surge is gonna bring.
If the [bleep] really were to hit the fan,
I don't know that that's the best place to be.
Just like...
Hundreds of thousands of tons of metal
just kind of, going crazy and moving around.
It's like all the popular kids are over there
and we're, kind of like, eating lunch by ourselves over here.
[baby cooing]
[Emily] I don't know if that's where I want to be, honestly.
[Chris] That's quite concerning right there.
And this is just the beginning.
Wow.
That's crazy.
The storm, it's so severe, like, you can see over here--
You can see the sand
starting to drift all over the place, you know?
That's-- And, that's just the beginning of the storm.
It's crazy!
So, right where I'm at, this is 11-feet
from the water level, you know.
So, that could devastate this road.
This road is unpaved.
It's almost like, it's just...
It's just rock, gravel road and that's about it.
This road could get devastated by the waves.
The Bering Sea is officially pissed off.
Wow.
Here we are.
I don't really know what else to do other than just check the line
and just think positive.
[dog bell]
[woman] I'm worried that--
Well, it said that the airport might flood.
Like, the tarmac could flood.
So, I don't know how long
that would take the water to go away.
[Zeke] Woah, hey!
[Zeke laughs]
We've loved this energy drawing off
of this nice, floating dock that the port has.
I think I have all my t's crossed here.
And really, I just have to sit tight
and wait for it to kick up and just see how bad it gets.
It's gotta hold on.
Right now, the storm is only halfway here.
Before it's over with, the water will be coming
over this, I guarantee you.
Calling it for 50 knots.
Which, to you lumberly types, is about 60 miles per hour.
Full gale.
Right at the point of being hurricane force.
Depending on who you talk to,
an 11-17 foot storm surge.
Which means, where we are right now
is gonna be under water.
All these buildings over here, they're most likely...
They're gonna be flooded.
Now, right here,
is the sag.
If you look out there, you can tell the water's already
a lot higher than it was just yesterday, for instance.
The water's definitely rising already.
And, it's gonna rise quite a bit more
before it closes in.
El captain sitting in the truck 'cause he's in his PJs.
We're down here, we're on standby.
We will be down here constantly checking on the operation.
To make sure everything's fine.
[man] Don't even have to use the ladder no more.
[man] Wow, our splints are almost down in the hole.
-Yup. -Well, that one's in the hole!
Wow, look at how deep the water's here.
-Jeez boy. -That's 30-foot tall spuds.
So far, everything is holding though, huh?
This isn't the south winds yet.
[man] Wow. When we get a south wind,
all the winds gonna be blowing up against
all of our boats and it's gonna bring the waves into the harbor.
The winds are gonna be coming over the jetty
and everything soon.
Doesn't get any worse than this [bleep].
[man] Oh, look at Vern's boat right now.
[Andy]
It'll be fine, it's just gonna smack into his other boat.
He's good.
-[men laughing] -Oh, woah!
Woah! [laughing]
Woo hoo hoo! [chuckles]
Yo, it's just coming off.
Oh my God.
If it wasn't for this floating dock right here,
like, I don't really know...
I mean, I'd be pinned over on the wall.
And, I would probably be sitting in my truck all night.
But, the way this looks,
I mean, you got all these boats tied up to it.
But, it all seems like
it's really anchored really well.
I mean, there's probably an anchor going down to the bottom
right here on this dock.
So, it can't really swing around.
Yeah, I think, we're gonna like--
I kinda wanna just go and get a beer
and then go look at those waves for a while
and kinda watch it for a while
and I don't think we're gonna sleep much tonight.
[woman laughs]
This will all be under-- This whole patch is going under.
-[engine starts] -[Zeke chuckles nervously]
Oh, damn. Oh, my God.
Wow.
That's crazy.
See this water's already up to my street.
It's almost to the fire hydrant.
That's crazy, this is so-- This is very concerning.
You know, I'm kinda nervous
of what's gonna happen in the next few couple hours.
'Cause this is not the peak yet.
This is-- At 6 AM, that's the peakiest of the peak.
We're gonna have to evacuate this street.
You know, we're gonna have to evacuate our home.
You don't want to be swimming in the middle of the night.
That's... You know, that's the last--
That's the worst case scenario that could happen.
You'd be waking up to water up to your hips.
Cold as [bleep].
But for now, I've got to go ride around a little bit
and check on the dredge.
[Chris]
[man] What are you doing down here, you crazy son of a...
[Chris laughs] Well, we're doing crazy things.
[man] It's hideous, it's all underneath water here.
[Chris] You guys gonna start to close Belmont?
Do we have to evacuate pretty soon?
Or do we have to?
[man] I don't know if we're gonna have to evacuate.
That's up to the city.
[Chris] It's just up to the city, huh?
[man] It's not gonna be very much longer till this road's out there.
[Chris] Right, right.
[man] F street's closed out.
They're shutting down F street.
-[Chris] Wow. -So, we'll see, we'll see.
[Chris] Yeah, I appreciate the information, man.
You stay safe. I'm gonna go check on my dredge.
So, make sure everything's all tied up and good.
[man] Yeah, definitely, I understand that.
[Chris] Right on.
-You have a good night. -Safe drive.
[Chris] Stay safe.
Good fellas, you know.
We've got great fellas like that.
You know, keeping-- Making sure
every resident is safe, you know what I mean?
Now, let's go check on the dredge.
There's like 15 dredges tied up to that one floating dock.
And it's anchored to a big cement block.
And, you know, the water's gonna rise up.
Pretty substantially.
You know, you just, kind of, wonder
what's gonna happen if it's that high.
Could the whole boardwalk just float off?
Bash into the wall or... You never know.
So, let's go check it out.
See how it's doing-- Wow, that's crazy.
Never seen it so high. It's kinda funny.
First, gotta tuck in the hood.
'Cause it's gonna be windy as [bleep].
[rain pouring]
[Chris] Woah.
Holy [bleep].
Wow, look at that ran--
The lower wall is already flooded.
Look at that.
Wow...
[thunder rumbling]
Checking everybody's cleats too, you know.
Just making sure everybody's safe.
Alright, they're nice and doubled up. That's good.
Go check on the top part.
So far, so good. I checked all my dredge.
My lines are real tight.
So, I think she's hanging on pretty good.
You know, I doubled up my lines, so...
Even though one breaks,
there's another one backup, so...
Look at this yacht.
It wants to tip over.
Only thing that's keeping it straight up ahead
is this boardwalk.
This poor thing.
You never know what's gonna happen in the next few hours.
This is not it. This is just the beginning of it.
Just to let you know.
The high tide's in the morning.
6 AM is the high tide.
So, just imagine, the storm plus high tide,
what worse can it get, you know what I mean?
So, that's... Yeah, pretty worried.
Yeah, let's get the [bleep] out of here.
It's getting pretty nasty.
I'm ready to go home. [chuckles]
[Zeke] It's surging right now.
It's surging and it said it might come up 18-feet.
If you look at where the water level is,
we only have about four or five feet
before the water starts spilling out into the parking lot.
If the boats spill out into the parking lot,
I don't know how the hell anyone's gonna get
those boats back into the water.
-[thunder rumbling] -[Zeke]
When I look at the boat,
there's not a whole lot that's gonna change
if I sit here and stare at it.
It kinda causes me anxiety
to sit here and watch the water go up, actually.
If there was anything I could do to keep it safer,
then I would, but if the dock broke free,
and I was on the boat then what would I do?
Just like, fire up the outboards
and like, just try to drive around in the wind?
Until I got a rope bottom I prop?
I don't think that would help.
It's gonna like, completely wash these roads out, dude.
It's complete chaos.
I don't even know what this means for Nome.
I think we've got a ways to go.
[man]
So obviously, we're going into red alert, right now.
Uh, there's-- The barge--
The barge is hitting up pretty high with the break wall.
Which is not good.
[man] I can't believe how high the boat is.
And this is the high wall.
Everything looks a little bit bad but it's not crazy yet.
The wind is gonna go up, what? Another ten miles an hour?
20 miles an hour.
South breeze which means we are gonna get
more water pumped to us.
So, the water is gonna go up a little bit.
[man] So, the cops just stopped and talked to us.
-[Kris] Huh? -They're shutting the [bleep] roads down right now.
-[Kris] What roads? -The cops are.
He's shutting this one down, that one and this one.
We're not going and the police can [bleep] off.
I'm not going anywhere.
[man]
[Kris] You know what? That's how I live life on the line, baby!
The police are out blocking the road.
I told them we're not going anywhere.
You know, if my boat breaks off,
it'll start wiping out buildings.
So, we can't let that happen. You know what I'm saying?
[man]
The all-in looks great.
It's sitting there floating nice.
I'm not losing anything off my deck.
I'm actually in a better situation than The Mistress.
-[loud crash] -Woah!
-Hey, watch out!
[bleep] is flying off the building.
[loud crash]
I'm gonna stand right here
where I got the truck blocking me.
Right now, all we got going on is a dangerous situation.
The building behind us is breaking apart
and we're gonna get random pieces of steel.
Flying over towards us.
Those [bleeping] tins... [laughs]
Tin roof just blew off the parking lot.
It looked like some-- I thought someone was shooting at us.
Everybody started diving for cover.
[Kevin] Oh, man!
This is one heck of an experience.
We've got severe conditions going on.
50-mile an hour plus winds.
With gusts probably pushing 80.
Right now, you can't even hardly stand up.
The damn light poles are singing in the wind.
They're bright and howling.
Horizontal rain.
Rivers of water coming over the beach.
This is coming over the sea wall.
That's 20-feet down.
Pulling across the parking lot.
I'm knee deep in foam.
This ramp is normally never more than horizontal.
And, it's 60 degrees upward.
We're within a foot of a 20-foot breaker wall.
I've never seen it like this here in Nome.
If any boat here
happens to break the line,
this could be a melee.
It's supposed to get worse.
We got two more days of this stuff.
It's Friday now, it's supposed to go through Sunday.
So, who knows what's up?
This is wild.
[Shawn] See how the Myrtle's starting to rock now?
Where is it? Definitely not that far.
We got a big storm.
Huge.
There's a lever dropping down on the boat.
Now, we're stepping up onto it.
We got really high.
You all see...
Coming in really-- This is bad.
I got the spuds down on the Myrtle.
The spuds down on the Christine Rose.
Spuds are still holding
but we only got another foot and a half
before it starts floating.
Then it can float away.
I've grabbed ground with a bucket of excavator.
Put another anchor down.
But it's not good on a real long arm here.
I'm gonna get on the Myrtle, I'm gonna start the generator.
I'm gonna pull down on the spuds.
Push some pressure down and hold them into place.
[Shawn]
Now, I'm just tightening up some lines.
Keeps tying up some of these little guys.
Got some small dredges on here.
In between us and this big barge.
We need to get our gear
and all of our [bleeping] trucks out of here.
Like, now.
Hey?
I was worr-- I gotta get my [bleeping] truck out of here.
It looks like it's gonna start creeping over the top.
Between us and the Bering Sea, right now,
and it's wanting to come over.
So, first thing is,
we're gonna get the trucks outta here and then I'm gonna come
spend the night on the boat.
[Shawn]
I woke up and looked through the window, and all of a sudden,
the water level is all the way up to my stairs.
And everybody's telling us to evacuate the house.
So, they said that the water's gonna rise
two more feet above normal.
So, uhm...
And, so I think that it's time to get the hell outta here.
Before disaster strikes, you know?
[Chris] Let's go.
It's like, "Oh, my [bleeping] God. Can you believe this?"
Like my neighbor's house is gone.
It's down the river.
Literally, the water carried it away
and pulled it down the river.
I'm pretty worried 'cause it could happen to our spot too.
Because, look at the water, it's already up to the stairs.
It's insane.
You know? That's not good.
It's just wiser to just get the hell out of here.
Yeah, we just go load up. Let's go.
[engine revs]
[Chris] Whoo!
Thank God, it's not my dredge.
I gotta say this is a big one.
Gotta go check out some more boats.
So far, they're holding.
But only by the barest fingernail.
It's about to blow for another 24 to 30 hours from the south.
Gonna pump more water in there.
If more water's coming in,
they're not gonna hold.
Well, here we are
at the harbor, on the other side of the bridge.
The only way to get here right now is backroads.
I really wish we were rich enough to take our boat out of the water.
'Cause that's a rich mother [bleep] right there.
[Andy] You guys want to go take a look at the house that hit the bridge?
-[Kris] Yeah, yeah. -[Andy] Let's go take a look at it.
[Kris] Like the Wizard of Oz house.
[man]
[Kris] They're gonna break it apart
and they're gonna pull it out of the water.
[Kris] Yeah.
Now, anybody that builds too close to the water,
they get [bleep] up.
I'm glad my family
lives way far away from the ocean.
We are one foot from the--
From the breakers to come over this wall.
Start filling the harbor with all that debris.
Some of these boats are just hanging on by a thread.
[thunder rumbling]
Soon as the docks go over this pipe,
this entire thing breaks loose
and all of these boats are going with it.
What? That thing's gonna break loose?
Oh [bleep].
[Dan]
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, the freaking-- The Black Swan's over.
I think we are the smartest people in the harbor right now.
It is so nice to have the Eroica safe and sound on the shore.
All of these guys are just hoping this dock stays put.
Man, they weren't [bleeping] kidding when they said,
"Typhoon of the century."
I never seen anything this massive.
There's a dredge over there floating right by.
He's almost on the road.
It's absolute carnage.
The water's so high up,
you can't even see the rock wall, no more.
And look at the ramp, it's almost straight.
The east wall's already toppled over with water.
And it can only rise up two more feet.
So, let's go check on the dredges.
I brought Dad here with me.
And, yeah let's go make sure the Tahta is still intact.
[wind blowing]
[Chris] I never been in this kind f situation before.
This is the biggest wind I've ever experienced.
Wow.
Zeke's yacht boat is already floating away.
I hope we have a harbor by the end of this day.
Right now, it looks like an absolute warzone.
Boats everywhere [bleeping] piling up.
And it's only gonna get worse.
For now, my dredge is good.
[Chris] We need more ropes?
[Chris] Okay.
Yeah, I got more ropes there.
So, now we're gonna put more ropes
because this is gale force winds.
It's better safe than sorry.
Right now, it's just about 55 miles an hour.
Gusting from the south straight down.
I'm getting wet.
And, uh...
And this floating dock is anchored
by two cement blocks.
And, it's starting to get intense.
Every hour, every minute,
it's just only getting worse.
Wow, man. That's crazy, I'm done.
Right over here's the spud.
Which is the assisted dock that's connected to it.
And if we only got-- We only got three more feet
and this whole dock is gonna lift off and take this somewhere.
Hopeful we'll still have a floating dock
in the next morning, you never know.
[Vernon]
It's gonna be blowing for another
24 hours.
At least.
So, wait, 11 o'clock.
Yeah, everything's in the red.
Right now, the wind's at fixed speed.
It'll drop off a little bit about midnight.
But not much and it's still out the south.
But the wind is still blowing like a blue balled banshee.
Before it's over, things are gonna bust loose.
Already, a house drifted over, near where I live.
Washed up by the bridge.
And then, speaking of floating away,
that sail boat over there belongs to Zeke.
The Black Swan.
And, I can see
it's going up and down now. It was on a crevice.
And, pulling the hard on the land.
But, she's floating. She's floating.
If it comes up another foot or two, that boat's gonna float away.
This is a mess.
Ah.
[bleep]
This is Front Street.
Front Street's like a river.
And that Bering Sea is right there
just rearing its ugly head.
It's gonna be a wipeout for this town.
Gonna be a long time putting all this back together.
Yeah, this is pretty damn extreme.
This is enough. I'm seeing what I need to see.
Normally, there's a road in front.
But the road is washed out.
Well, what this is telling me is the water is still coming in.
And my boats are down there tied up
to the sea wall on the inside of the harbor.
And...
I don't know if we're gonna make it.
[Jane] So, the entire Front Street is shut down.
[Emily] Oh, yeah, entire Front Street, it's like gone.
Getting pretty close to, like, peak of the storm.
And, I'm gonna go see if there's any way
we can, kind of, get over to the boat and check on it.
The road's pretty washed out.
[Jane] Oh, my God. It looks like it's gonna float away.
[Emily] How crazy!
Oh, my gosh.
The ocean's just taking it back.
Taking it all back.
Is that all you got?
That's pretty good.
Oh, my God.
[Kris] It's finished [bleep]. Last [bleeping] night.
I was calling everybody the whole [bleeping] time.
I've been up there every two hours all [bleeping] night long.
Right now, we're just waiting for the storm surge to finish.
Kris, look at the front end now.
I mean, that white line, since this morning...
I'm telling you that white line was under that rail.
Since I've been here at 8:00, it's gone up that high.
Well, I think low tide is right now.
And, tide's going to keep-- Start going up now.
So, we're gonna have about another three feet by ten o'clock tonight.
Oh no, [bleep]. Can't afford another three feet.
I don't think [bleeping] Nome can afford another three feet.
Don't think Nome can afford--
I mean, look at that container.
Kris is ready to go in the water over there, buddy.
[Kris] [bleeping] A, are we ever close to the edge.
Worst case scenario, I'll [bleeping] swim out to there,
will jump on that boat,
and we will just put the boat on power.
And we'll just keep the boat from hitting into the side of the wall.
Like going-- Going over the wall.
There's no [bleeping] way in hell
I am letting anything happen to that barge.
[Dan]
[Zeke] It's still building.
I barely slept last night.
'Cause I'm like, listening to the wind and in my yurt.
And, you know, yurt sounds like it's gonna blow away.
I mean, I was really worried about Nome.
Worried about it and there's houses
that are getting blown up the river.
And, there's a lot of chaos going on.
But, so far, it looks like
the most of the infrastructure of the harbor
is in place.
For now. Uhm, but we need to go
assess the damage. I got a report that
my sailboat is not faring very well.
And you know there's really nothing that can be done.
I mean, the water just came up so much
that it floated the sailboat off of its...
Cradle.
And now, the sailboat is, uhm...
It's gonna go where it's gonna go.
Right now, we're gonna walk down and check on energy.
-Whoo. [chuckles] -Yeah, dude.
I [bleeping] called you a couple of times
trying to check on you. Make sure you guys were okay out there.
[Zeke] Well, my sailboat has cut loose.
There's literally nothing I can do about this problem right now.
I can't-- There's nothing I can do.
You just gotta let it happen.
I'm just hoping it sets down right there.
-[men laughing] -[Zeke] That's the best I could hope for.
Can we wade through this?
[man]
[Zeke] How deep is it?
I think I'm gonna go around. [chuckles]
Looks like the only near catastrophe in this harbor,
so far, is my sailboat.
It's aground right now though 'cause that's the rail.
So, when the water goes out,
my sailboat is just gonna set down on it's side right there.
[man]
[Zeke] I think we're in as good a spot as we could be.
I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the harbor
other than where we're at right now.
I mean, at a certain point,
I don't know boats are gonna start cutting loose and getting blown
through the harbor then across the road and over to that.
The Synergy's gonna be one of the first boats to go.
I don't think my brain can really deal with that many possibilities
and scenarios.
The storm's moving into the harbor. It's pushing over.
[waves crashing]
[Chris] Things are getting out of hand today.
It's just getting worse and worse.
I mean, look at Front Street. It looks like a river.
And the storm has already passed.
But, it's just the residual,
that's what's worse, you know what I mean?
So that's where we're at right now.
I'm gonna go check on the dredges again.
I want to keep mining.
But, how do you keep mining if you don't have the hardware no more?
You know what I mean?
Yeah, the storm is definitely doing some
pretty hefty damage, for sure.
[engine revving]
I'm not too sure if I can go in there and check on the dredge.
Oh, my God, there's no way.
[birds chirping]
That's crazy.
Wow.
Damn, it's not over yet.
[Emily]
[Jane]
[Emily laughs]
Oh.
Whoo!
[Jane]
[Emily]
These boats are in pretty good shape.
They're faced down to the wind.
Mine is wrong side to the wind.
Once the waves start crashing in and hit those vessels,
they will not hold, I guarantee you.
I am just, right now,
fingers crossed, hoping and praying.
That I've got sufficient lines out
and my cleats hold.
So that my two rigs over there,
stay where they are.
Something lets go...
Next thing you know they're gonna
come careening down through the port area.
Hit other boats, do damage.
[bleep]
[signal beeping]
Looking at this boat right now
it's-- I'm feeling a lot better about it.
In the last hour, it looked like it came down
like, about a foot.
It's still right up to the limit.
I've been coming over here and putting eyeballs on it.
It's looking a lot safer and saner
than all the madness.
But, I'd still like to get another line to that other cleat.
I got insurance claims.
[Vernon] That ought to do it.
I feel...
A hell...
Of a lot better about things now.
I was really worried about these rigs.
Based on what I'm seeing and hearing,
I think the worst of it is over.
The peak has passed.
[thunder rumbling]
[Zeke] It all looks good to me.
[woman]
[Zeke] Sailboat's gonna stay right there.
Yeah.
I'll be able to probably get Shawn's crane down here.
We'll just crane it onto a trailer.
And then, move it to its next home.
I think we're over the hump.
-[woman] We're over the hump. -It's coming down.
Thanks for all your help. Come here.
It's pretty surreal.
This is, like, just a lot for your brain to, like,
have to...
Internalize and process.
You know, I'm kind of, worn out.
Long 24 hours.
[man]
Good, our boats are fine.
The water's receding.
It looks like we're out of the real trouble.
The Mistress is safe.
The All-In is safe. We made it through the storm.
It's still [bleep] up but the water's not getting any higher.
That's all I care about.
And then, everything will go into clean up mode.
So, we're safe.
Oh, my God, you're getting it? Oh, my God.
[sirens blaring]
[honking]
[fireman] Go, go, get the [bleep] out of here!
[Chris] Gonna be a while, so,
things are about to go down. This is really...
You know, I don't know what the hell is happening.
All I know is it's a thick smoke in the sky.
And, my favorite bar is going down in flames.
Bering Sea Bar has caught on fire.
[water splashing]
That's crazy.
It's just heartbreaking, you know what I mean?
It's just a heartbreaking moment.
That's insane, dude.
We have a fat storm and all of a sudden, one of the most historical
restaurant or bars is now in flames.
And, it's gonna keep spreading. That fire is gonna keep
jumping on the next structure to another structure.
Until the whole line's burned down.
The most worried structure is the Nugget Inn.
It's the most historical building here in Nome, Alaska.
It's one of the last few of them right here.
[sirens approaching]
The owners are both hurt.
They're in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, I think.
Manager's down here. He's alright but...
So, I work here in housekeeping and when I heard it,
I was coming right now. All the guests
have been evacuated to the church.
[Danny]
[Melanie]
[sirens blaring]
See you guys, it's getting bigger.
They can't put it out, it's just getting bigger and bigger.
[man]
So, there's still propane tanks. These are restaurants.
They got propane tanks, they got natural gas.
-They're still intact so this thing could explode. -Move back!
They're trying to get us out so let's move back a little bit.
[fireman]
[Emily] Oh, my gosh, it's not even a road.
-It's just debris and rocks. -[Jane] Holy [bleep].
-Dude, the road is gone! -[Emily] There's no road.
[Jane] It's gone.
[Emily] Holy [bleep]!
This is insane.
Holy [bleep]!
[Emily chuckles]
Woohoo!
[Chris] Watching like, a train wreck, you know.
It's [bleep]...
Sad and it's tough, you know.
This [bleep] shouldn't be happening at all.
[Chris groans]
[fireman]
[honking]
[honking continues]
[Melanie]
[Chris]
And he just so happened to be the housekeeper in the Nugget Inn.
I don't know if he's okay but hopefully, everybody's okay.
So far we didn't have any loss of life.
Even the big storm kicked in, you know what I mean, so...
That's crazy.
Wow, looks like we lost a little bit of real estate here.
That's crazy.
This place is a whole mess.
And this is absolute carnage. I mean,
there's so much trash everywhere, it's insane.
But, it's really unfortunate to see
my neighbor's house is gone now.
It used to be right there. Now it's gone.
Saddening.
[wind blowing]
[Shawn] Bering Sea is pretty unforgiving.
[Cody] This was a house a couple of days ago.
And now it's just a bunch of piles of wood and junk.
Floating down this river here under the bridge.
And it was on CNN too, so that's kind of a big deal.
Town almost even burned down.
With the winds, the way they're blowing.
Could've blown the fire into town
and could have gotten out of control but thank God.
You know, the fire department got it under control.
Nome's burned down before, I think, twice.
All the way.
Pretty sad that they lost their house. Their family home
for quite a few years.
You know, they lost their home and their pictures
and all their belongings.
You know, sad. Sad.
[Vernon] The old ghost ship...
It hung together.
We just escaped a disaster by the skin of our teeth.
And if the seas had continued to build,
just another foot or two,
this place would have ripped through.
If the water had come in another two feet,
we'd have been taking green seas roadside.
Against this boat right here and that one also. They would've--
No doubt in my mind, they would've come undone.
We dodged a bullet but only barely.
They say there's no atheists in foxholes.
Well, I'll tell you, I was doing some serious--
I wasn't in a foxhole but i was doing some serious praying.
That this thing didn't bust loose.
Thank the Lord.
[Emily] We pulled the boat out and we didn't miss a thing.
We just missed like, the storm of the century.
Which, we were really happy to sit out of that.
And now, you know, barring anything happening on the way in...
Knock on wood.
We're ready to go back to work.
[Chris] Jeep looks good. Looks like
people are picking up the debris
and cleaning up the town and so far, so good.
My favorite restaurant just burned down.
Literally, I just had my last burger down there.
Look at that. That's all that's left right there.
There it is. It's just a pile of dirt.
That's a tough one to swallow because
you know, that's a big charm to the Nome community.
You know, because, I myself, spend thousands
of dollars just buying food and drinks over there.
You know, it's just shocking that one day it'll just be gone.
You know what I mean? You don't realize what you got until it's gone.
So yeah, it's just hard to look at.
You know.
Now, we're gonna go to the harbor
and we're gonna go check on the dredges.
-[keys jingling] -Alright.
Check on the dredge.
So, from the looks of it,
it's nice and-- Yeah, like nothing happened.
You know?
Not a scratch, not a scratch at all.
We've survived, you know what I mean? Still here.
My dad's dredge.
Spuds are still good.
Good thing we doubled them up.
Strategy worked.
Yeah, that trick held up.
Good initiative. Go check on the Tahta.
Everything looks good.
Nobody stole my gas, so...
Yeah.
So, what's the outlook for our season?
Right now, it does not look very good.
Because right now, the whole ocean is all stirred up.
And you can't see for a while so you gotta let that thing settle down.
Fingers crossed, this week,
it will give us another big clear wind over us
to go back out there and go back to gold dredging.
So, yeah. It's all I'm looking forward to.
We'll just play it by ear.
[narrator] Next time on Bering Sea Gold...
It's our first day of mining after the big storm.
The typhoon played havoc on the town.
Destroyed a bunch of stuff.
But, it's gonna open up some new ground for us miners.
[Emily] No use for that ultra concentrated storm gorge.
[man] I'm excited to get back out there.
[Chris] We're getting some strong north-east winds
and it's not very safe for my dredge to be out here alone.
We're gonna go for it, you know.
Fortune favors the bold.
It's gonna be a really tough dive.
[Cody] That's some major current.
He almost went right under the boat.
That's a [bleeping] hot pan.
She's loaded!
[man on radio] Seeing gold all over the place here.
-He sees it everywhere. -Gold everywhere.
That thing's blowing steam? Holy [bleep].
[man]
[man] Wow.
Yeah, put a couple hundred dollars in the box today!
[man] We're taking on water.
[sighs in exasperation]