Gathering Storm

A tropical cyclone builds in the mid-Atlantic. The Caribbean and Eastern Seaboard are on high alert. The cyclone becomes Category 5 Hurricane Dorian. It’s a monster, and the storm of the century. The Caribbean and U.S. Eastern Seaboard brace for impact. This is what our 1,000 cameras captured — one of the most powerful hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic, leaving devastation in its wake.

Warm seas in the Atlantic and Caribbean threaten a monster hurricane, and they deliver. A tropical cyclone forms near The Bahamas, aiming for Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, but it turns as it builds, putting the East Coast on alert. And as Hurricane Humberto forms, and grows to Category 3 status, its tight arc sends it directly toward the island of Bermuda. This is what our 1,000 cameras captured.

A super typhoon in the Pacific creates havoc in the rough, deadly Bering Sea. Typhoon Hagibis intensifies with incredible speed as it heads for Japan. While the nation braces for a devastating impact, seafarers are on alert in the deadly waters of the North Pacific. Cameras on board cargo ships, fishing boats and military vessels capture the action as they face the monster storm.

The warm, shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico are a thriving hub of industry and commerce, but they’re also rocket fuel for hurricanes. The Gulf Coast has been decimated in the past, but every time the marine and coastal economies bounce back. With more people, more ships, more fishermen and more oil platforms here than ever before, three major storms will bring a new level of devastation.

The U.S. territory of Guam has a ringside seat to the birth of the Pacific ocean’s biggest storms, right in the heart of Typhoon Alley. Now it’s in the firing line again as the rapidly building Typhoon Kammuri puts Guam’s vital U.S. Navy base and shipping harbor on high alert. Within days Kammuri grows ever more powerful and strikes the Philippines as the most powerful typhoon of the year.

National Geographic cameras ride with the boats of America’s Northeast during a deadly Atlantic fishing season. Back-to-back nor’easters force the lobster and scallop fleet to venture into violent seas, risking giant rogue waves large enough to swamp their boats. Some reap the rewards as the risks pay off. But not all of the boats will make it back home.