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00:00What would happen if every human being on Earth disappeared?
00:10This isn't the story of how we might vanish.
00:15It is the story of what happens to the world we leave behind.
00:23In this episode of Life After People, the relentless power of water.
00:30It threatens to wipe out everything in its path and erase mankind's greatest masterpieces.
00:37But why will this abandoned mining colony hold off water's destructive effects and outlast Earth's greatest cities?
00:47And how will the river of oil flowing through the Alaska pipeline break free?
00:54Welcome to Earth. Population zero.
01:00Man has always struggled to hold back and harness the raw power of water.
01:18On a planet where more than 70% of the surface is covered by oceans, lakes, and rivers, it's a never-ending battle.
01:28Now, man is gone.
01:34And along the planet's more than 220,000 miles of coastline and millions of miles of waterways,
01:41a raging force is ready to break free.
01:45One day after people.
02:00In the California state capital of Sacramento,
02:03where an action hero once came to preside over the eighth-largest economy in the world,
02:11there was about to be a watery disaster big enough to rival any Hollywood blockbuster.
02:17In 2005, the world saw water's devastating effects when Hurricane Katrina's storm surge overpowered man-made levees,
02:30destroying much of New Orleans.
02:37And Sacramento has many of the same vulnerabilities.
02:41Every winter and spring, heavy rains and runoff from melting snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains
02:51turn the rivers in low-lying Sacramento
02:54into deadly torrents.
02:58We're standing at the confluence of the American River and the Sacramento River.
03:03And these two rivers, particularly in this area,
03:06are entirely encased by levees, which are placed right against the river.
03:10And that's why Sacramento is the most at-risk large city in the United States.
03:22But Raging Water isn't the only villain in this developing disaster.
03:27There are thousands of accomplices already working to make the impending disaster bigger.
03:36Rodents are the nemesis of levees out here.
03:38You have ground squirrels that make these networks of burrows.
03:41And the worst of them all is the beavers.
03:47In 2008, animal tunnels were believed to be one of the main causes of a levee failure
03:53in the town of Fernley, Nevada, near Reno.
03:57The raging waters flooded 600 homes and caused an estimated $4 million of damage.
04:04And Sacramento's levees share a dangerous foie with those in Fernley.
04:11The earthen levees were originally built by farmers more than 100 years ago.
04:17Without repairs by human crews, it won't take long for the water to find a way through.
04:22Across the planet, in the Netherlands, more than a quarter of the country is below sea level.
04:35During the time of humans, 60% of the population, about 10 million people, lived in these vulnerable areas.
04:44Because of that threat, the Dutch built an amazingly advanced flood defense system.
04:55Now, the city of Rotterdam is empty.
04:58In the Boeman's Museum, works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and other Dutch masters worth millions of dollars still hang on the wall.
05:12But the building sits less than 10 feet above sea level.
05:21And a massive storm surge barrier between Rotterdam and the North Sea holds the key to the city's survival.
05:29Two days after people, back in North America, the port of Valdez, Alaska is eerily quiet.
05:50In the time of humans, tankers came here to fill up with oil.
05:55The oil flowed 800 miles inside the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
06:02If laid out in the lower 48, it would stretch from Chicago to Dallas.
06:09This man-made river of oil is pumped from Alaska's North Slope,
06:14across three mountain ranges and 34 major rivers, to holding tanks in Valdez.
06:20There are 380 million gallons of oil inside the pipeline at any given time.
06:28At its peak, the pipeline was moving about 2 million barrels a day of oil down the pipeline.
06:35The production on the North Slope has declined considerably,
06:38so it's moving about 700,000 barrels a day down the line now.
06:41The hum of the pump stations along the pipeline stops
06:48as their fuel and electricity runs out.
06:55But the gurgling sound of moving liquid can still be heard in Valdez.
07:00It's traveling from a storage tank several hundred feet in elevation above the waterline
07:07to one of the tankers below.
07:10It's here where the river of oil breaks free.
07:16If a ship were loading, then it could continue to load the tank's gravity feed down to the ship.
07:24So they would continue to run, and potentially one of the tanks on the ship would overflow.
07:28In 2012, millions of gallons of black death drain into the harbor.
07:39The tens of thousands of birds and marine mammals near Valdez have witnessed this before.
07:48In 1989, the Exxon-Valdez disaster happened a few miles offshore in Prince William Sound.
07:56About 11 million gallons spilled.
08:02Now, this overflowing tanker drowns the harbor with almost twice as much oil.
08:08But as hundreds of millions more gallons sit in the 800 miles of pipeline,
08:17another disaster awaits.
08:242,800 miles away, near Chicago,
08:29a dangerous fish is continuing its shocking invasion.
08:32In the time of humans, along vast stretches of the Mississippi River and its tributaries,
08:41the non-native Asian carp terrorized people by hurling themselves out of the water whenever boats came near.
08:48We've heard many times about people being injured down on the Illinois River,
08:57broken jaws, broken clavicles, being knocked unconscious, knocked off their jet ski or personal watercraft.
09:03So, yeah, these are really changing the way people are able to recreate on the river.
09:08The plant-eating Asian carp were brought over from Asia beginning in the 1960s
09:20by catfish farmers looking for a cheap and safe way to keep their ponds clean.
09:25Then, the carp began escaping during floods in the 1980s and started heading north.
09:37Now, they're making their way into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal,
09:41which leads to Lake Michigan.
09:46Mann feared that if the carp made it into the Great Lakes,
09:50they would kill off the desirable fish by devouring their food supply.
09:55So, it's here that mankind made its last stand against the Asian carp.
10:03Fish approaching this part of the canal are in for a nasty shock.
10:09A series of virtual fences built by the Army Corps of Engineers
10:14creates an electric current in the water.
10:18When a fish approaches, the further it goes into the barrier,
10:22the larger the electrical shock it feels.
10:24And at some point in time, the fish realizes it's getting worse as I move forward.
10:28So, it turns around and it goes back the way it came.
10:32But once the power goes out,
10:34can anything stop the invasion of this jumping fish?
10:38One week after people.
10:49Half a world away in Australia sits one of the most iconic buildings on the planet,
10:56the Sydney Opera House.
10:57During the time of humans,
11:01the four-and-a-half-acre building used as much electricity as a town of 25,000 people.
11:08The 160,000-ton building appears to float at the edge of the harbor,
11:14but is actually held up by 580 reinforced concrete pilings sunk up to 82 feet below sea level.
11:22The Opera House hosted about 3,000 events a year.
11:30But now, there is just one final long-running show.
11:36The slow decay of the building itself.
11:39The salty water of Sydney Harbor causes the most damage.
11:47It attacks the reinforced concrete pilings.
11:51The most vulnerable area for the pilings is known as the splash zone.
11:55In the splash zone, where you have repeated wet-dry cycles,
12:02the worst conditions are present because you have the sulfates attacking the cement paste on the outside,
12:09and you have chlorides that are coming in contact with oxygen
12:13to help get the corrosion of steel going on.
12:17The building is best known for its iconic roof.
12:21For now, the soaring ceramic tile-covered shells at the top of the Opera House
12:27are well-sealed from the salty harbor air.
12:33But a design feature that made these elegantly curved shapes possible
12:37now holds the secret to their future.
12:41One week after people.
12:48Outside this nondescript building along the industrial canal near Chicago,
12:54emergency generators have kept the electric barriers buzzing.
12:58But now, the generators have consumed their last drop of fuel.
13:03For the Asian carp, the pathway to the Great Lakes seems wide open.
13:12In the coming days, they will begin heading toward Chicago
13:16and a vast new feeding ground in Lake Michigan.
13:24A week after people, the relentless power of water
13:28is just beginning to take a toll on the world's most famous buildings.
13:32But this rogue force can also strike quickly,
13:36threatening to plunge an entire city underwater.
13:49One month after people.
13:53Coastlines around the world have gone dark.
13:56Moonlight casts an eerie glow over the oceans.
14:04But in the surf off Los Angeles,
14:07strange lights twinkle in the sea.
14:12On the Santa Monica Pier,
14:14the Ferris wheel still blazes with 160,000 LED lights.
14:20First installed in 2008,
14:23they flash with computer-controlled designs
14:26that can be seen from more than 10 miles away.
14:31The Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier is run on solar power.
14:35And as long as those solar panels are active,
14:37they can keep powering those LED lights.
14:39But now that people are gone,
14:43how long will the light show last?
14:47And how long will the pier be able to withstand
14:50the relentless pounding of the waves?
14:52In the Netherlands,
14:59evidence of people's long struggle to control water is all around.
15:04From small levees and quaint windmills
15:07to massive coastal barriers.
15:11The largest barriers,
15:13some equipped with huge metal storm surge gates,
15:16were built after a devastating flood in 1953.
15:20In that one storm in 1953,
15:25there were 2,000 people that drowned.
15:28There was about 10,000 buildings
15:30that were flooded and damaged.
15:32Tremendous amount of devastation to the infrastructure.
15:41Rotterdam is one of the most vulnerable Dutch cities.
15:47Near the city center,
15:48priceless works by Rembrandt and Van Gogh
15:51hang in the Boemans Museum,
15:54just a few feet above sea level.
15:58In the time of humans,
16:00two massive floodgates protected the city
16:03by shutting out any storm surges from the North Sea.
16:07They're some of the largest moving structures on Earth.
16:13Each gate is 70 feet high
16:16and almost 700 feet long.
16:19They're connected to enormous ball joints
16:22by steel trusses that are so massive
16:24that it's almost as if two Eiffel Towers
16:28had been re-engineered to move the mammoth gates.
16:31But as a new storm slams ashore,
16:37the gates sit idle.
16:40Rotterdam fills with water from two directions.
16:43The rivers are flowing to the North Sea,
16:47and the surge is raising up the elevation of the water
16:52in the North Sea.
16:53And so what's coming down has no place to go,
16:57and it just continues to raise higher and higher.
17:03Water infiltrates the museum
17:05and washes away
17:07some of mankind's greatest cultural treasures.
17:24One year after people,
17:28near Chicago,
17:30the electric barrier keeping the Asian carp
17:33out of Lake Michigan is gone.
17:36In the time of humans,
17:39the carps seriously injure people
17:40by panicking and jumping out of the water
17:44any time boats came by.
17:48Now, the electric barrier
17:50has been gone for almost a year.
17:52And yet, the marine invaders
17:55still haven't taken over the lake.
17:58There are other man-made barriers
18:00blocking their way to the Great Lakes.
18:03The largest freshwater system in the world.
18:06The main one
18:07is the Chicago Harbor Lock,
18:10designed to let boats pass
18:12while keeping the Chicago River
18:14from flowing into Lake Michigan.
18:18Two sets of gates
18:19reach all the way to the bottom,
18:2435 feet below.
18:27Lock gates are 71 years old,
18:30and they're just made out of steel,
18:31riveted steel.
18:33Below the waterline,
18:34the lock gates are in a very stable environment.
18:37They're in fresh water,
18:38so they tend to be in fairly good shape.
18:41Roughly below the waterline,
18:42going up past the waterline,
18:44as close to the air,
18:45are the parts that tend to corrode a lot.
18:47The invaders are turned back at the gates
18:52for now.
19:03Three years after people.
19:06In Sacramento,
19:08there's no action movie star
19:10to come to the rescue.
19:11The city is on the verge
19:15of a blockbuster disaster.
19:20Without maintenance,
19:22the earthen levees
19:23are threatening to burst.
19:25A neighborhood south of downtown
19:27known as the Pocket
19:28is especially vulnerable.
19:31In this neighborhood of Sacramento,
19:34the houses are extremely close to the levee.
19:37In some places,
19:38they're right up against the levee on one side.
19:40We don't have much land on the water side,
19:43so the water is right up against the levee
19:45on the other side.
19:49But as the river level rises
19:51during a winter rainstorm,
19:53the first signs of water
19:54come not from above,
19:56but below.
19:57One way that levees can fail
20:02is if water seeps underneath the levee.
20:04And the land in this area
20:06has a much coarser material
20:08under the levee
20:09that allows water
20:10to seep through very easily.
20:13Water bubbles up near the homes.
20:16Without maintenance crews
20:17to shore up the weak spots,
20:20disaster suddenly strikes.
20:22It actually lubricates the area
20:24underneath the levee
20:26and makes a material
20:26that it can slide on.
20:28And the entire levee in that section
20:30could actually slide landward.
20:33We would have such a massive amount of water
20:35flowing through very quickly.
20:38The houses near that
20:39would be completely wiped out
20:40and ripped from their foundations.
20:45In other areas of Sacramento,
20:48water overtops the levees.
20:51Breaches quickly spread.
20:53North of downtown,
20:58Sacramento's airport
20:59is inundated by more than 10 feet of water.
21:04So you come out to the airport
21:05after this flood
21:06where everybody's disappeared.
21:08The water would be up to the wings,
21:10over the wings of the airplanes.
21:12I mean, you might see the tails sticking out.
21:14The downtown area is more elevated,
21:22but there's still about five feet of water
21:24surrounding the state capitol.
21:29For the dogs that have managed to survive
21:32the first three years after people,
21:34this new water world presents a deadly challenge
21:38for those with certain physical traits.
21:42In 2005, Hurricane Katrina killed or left homeless
21:46an estimated 600,000 animals,
21:50including thousands of dogs.
21:53Many of the dogs were trapped inside houses,
21:55which flooded.
21:57For those with short limbs and barreled chests,
22:00the chances of survival were very slim.
22:08A good example of this would be the bulldog.
22:10They have oversized heads and chests,
22:12and they're a flat-faced dog
22:14with a reduced respiratory system.
22:16So it's very unusual for a bulldog
22:18to exercise in long distances
22:20or swim for long distances.
22:21Now, with most of Sacramento underwater,
22:27mixes of retrievers, labs,
22:29and other well-proportioned swimming dogs
22:31adapt to the city's repeated floods.
22:36Other specialized breeds
22:37have been wiped out.
22:43But 20 miles away,
22:45there's another watery disaster
22:47building in the foothills above Sacramento
22:49that threatens to deliver
22:51an even greater wave of devastation.
23:06Three years after people,
23:09the non-native Asian carp
23:11is trying to enter Lake Michigan
23:13at the Chicago Harbor Lock.
23:15These fish were viewed
23:19as such a menace by mankind
23:21that in 2009,
23:23officials tried to eradicate them
23:25by pouring poison
23:26into the canal where they lived,
23:29enough to kill 200,000 pounds of fish.
23:36Now, if these invaders
23:38can make it past
23:39the 133-ton steel barriers,
23:42they may finally rule
23:44the largest freshwater system
23:46on the planet,
23:47the Great Lakes.
23:50And after several changes of season,
23:53a weakness in the very center
23:55of the lock gates
23:56is providing an opening.
23:59The things that would probably
24:00break down first on our lock gates
24:02would be the rubber seals.
24:05Ice causes a lot of damage
24:06and actually rips the seals off
24:08without much of an effort at all.
24:09Where the seals were,
24:13thousands of smaller carp
24:15now stream through the six-inch gap
24:17and into the lake
24:18with its enormous new food supply.
24:22With each female capable
24:24of carrying two and a half
24:25million eggs at a time,
24:27is there anything left on Earth
24:29that can stop this marauding invader?
24:32Four years after people.
24:45In Sydney Harbor,
24:46near the Opera House,
24:48trouble is brewing
24:50for another engineering marvel.
24:54The Sydney Harbor Bridge,
24:57nicknamed the Coathanger by locals,
24:58is one of the tallest
25:00steel arch bridges in the world.
25:03It was made with the special ability
25:06to expand and contract.
25:09The bridge towers 430 feet
25:11above the harbor water.
25:14But in Australia's extreme heat,
25:16the steel arch expands
25:18to grow a foot taller
25:19during the day,
25:21shrinking back to size at night.
25:22After four years
25:26in the strong sun
25:28and salty air
25:29of Sydney Harbor,
25:31signs of corrosion
25:32are everywhere.
25:34And corrosion
25:35in one particular area
25:36could eventually doom
25:38this massive structure.
25:42This Coathanger
25:43has hinges
25:44to allow the bridge
25:46to grow taller.
25:48The hinges are at each end
25:50of the massive single arch.
25:52But corrosion
25:54may soon cause
25:55the hinges
25:56to lock together.
26:02What will happen
26:03if the bridge loses
26:05its ability
26:06to expand and contract?
26:14Back in Lake Michigan,
26:16a year after Asian carp
26:18began streaming in,
26:20they haven't taken over
26:21as expected.
26:23An ancient threat
26:24was waiting for them.
26:29The sea lamprey
26:31is a freakish-looking,
26:32jawless fish
26:33that attaches to its prey
26:35and sucks out their blood
26:37and other bodily fluids.
26:40It entered the Great Lakes
26:42when Lake Erie
26:43was connected
26:43to the St. Lawrence Seaway.
26:45during the time
26:47of humans.
26:49Enormous efforts
26:50were made
26:50to keep the sea lamprey
26:52from devastating
26:53the sport fishing population.
26:56Great Lakes Fisher Commission
26:58and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
26:59currently spend
27:00about $16 to $19 million
27:03annually
27:05controlling the numbers
27:06of these fish.
27:08If that control went away,
27:09their numbers
27:11would increase greatly.
27:12So instead of taking over
27:17the Great Lakes,
27:18the Asian carp
27:19come face-to-face
27:20with the sea lamprey.
27:23For years,
27:24people tried to control
27:25which types of fish
27:26thrived in these waters.
27:29But now,
27:31two species
27:32accidentally introduced
27:33by humans
27:34have taken over.
27:36Ten years
27:50after people.
27:52On the Pacific coast,
27:54the famous
27:55solar-powered
27:56Ferris wheel
27:57on Santa Monica Pier
27:58is still
27:59lighting up the night.
28:01During the day,
28:03the pounding
28:04the pier has taken
28:05over the years
28:06is showing.
28:08In the time
28:09of humans,
28:11maintenance crews
28:12constantly replace
28:13damaged deck planks.
28:15Ten years down the road,
28:17definitely see the deck
28:19deteriorate.
28:21We can have
28:21some sinking buildings.
28:23The elevation
28:23of those buildings
28:24sinking through the pier.
28:26Not all at once,
28:27but a corner here,
28:28a corner there,
28:29a side here,
28:30half of it there.
28:31And little by little,
28:33these buildings
28:34could basically
28:34just sink through
28:35the pier.
28:39Then,
28:40finally,
28:41the nightly light show
28:42from the Ferris wheel
28:43comes to an end.
28:46The solar panels
28:47and most of the LED lights
28:49would be expected
28:50to last 20 to 25 years.
28:52But after a decade
28:56without maintenance,
28:58the system's inverter,
28:59which converts
29:00the solar power's
29:01DC current
29:02into usable
29:03AC electricity,
29:05finally fails.
29:12Three years
29:13after people,
29:15the failed
29:16levees of Sacramento
29:17created a catastrophic
29:19flood on a scale
29:20matching Hurricane Katrina's
29:22destruction of New Orleans.
29:24But now,
29:2610 years after people,
29:28an even greater wave
29:29of devastation looms.
29:3220 miles away,
29:33the water level
29:34at Folsom Dam
29:35is dangerously high.
29:38Without people,
29:39the 1950s-era dam
29:41has accumulated silt
29:42and debris
29:43around the floodgate.
29:45The water is now
29:46about 400 feet higher
29:48in elevation
29:49than Sacramento.
29:51And a new winter storm
29:52is dumping water in
29:54faster than it can flow out.
29:58If the dam overtopped,
30:00then as the water
30:01flowed around
30:02the sides of the dam,
30:03it would start eroding
30:04the abutments to the dam
30:06and could very likely
30:07result in a failure
30:08of the dam itself.
30:11As the turning storm waters
30:13erode the earthen sides
30:15of the dam,
30:16they pull down
30:17the rest of the structure.
30:22The avalanche of water
30:24and debris
30:25soon reaches Sacramento.
30:28The levees would be
30:30completely destroyed
30:31and overtopped.
30:32Water would flow
30:33through the entire city
30:34of Sacramento
30:35and probably all infrastructure
30:38within the city
30:39would be completely destroyed.
30:42At the airport,
30:43decaying planes
30:45are turned into projectiles
30:47slamming into
30:48the surrounding buildings.
30:58But as water
30:59destroys some
31:00of man's cities,
31:01could this abandoned site
31:03in the middle of nowhere
31:05become the last surviving town
31:08on the planet?
31:08Ten years after people,
31:21water is taking a toll
31:24on empty coastal cities
31:26around the world
31:26with a few exceptions.
31:30This mysterious town,
31:33abandoned ten years ago,
31:35may reveal which cities
31:36will remain standing
31:37in a life after people.
31:41Of towns with more
31:43than a few hundred people,
31:45Pyramiden on the Norwegian
31:47island of Svalbard
31:48used to be the northernmost
31:50town on earth.
31:52It's just 800 miles
31:54from the North Pole.
31:58Reaching this remote town
32:00requires an epic journey.
32:01A four-hour flight north
32:06from Oslo.
32:07Then another four hours
32:09through the choppy,
32:10cold Arctic Sea.
32:12But for those adventurous
32:14enough to reach Pyramiden,
32:16the dangers don't end there.
32:22Any group going ashore
32:24must be armed with a rifle
32:26to fend off polar bear attacks.
32:28You could get killed.
32:32The last year was 1995.
32:35Two different people
32:36got killed
32:37in two different locations.
32:39So they are potential
32:39very, very dangerous.
32:45500 miles north
32:47of the Norwegian mainland,
32:48between the chilling waves
32:50and sharp mountain peaks,
32:52lies the abandoned
32:53Cold War-era Soviet mining town.
32:55I'm sitting in what was
33:04essentially the town square
33:06of a mining community.
33:09There were once about
33:101,400 people living here.
33:13This was, until 1998,
33:16an active coal mine.
33:18The Russians bought it
33:19from the Swedes in 1927,
33:23and they still own it.
33:25The mine is called
33:26the Pyramiden coal mine,
33:28or pyramids,
33:29because the mountain peaks
33:31around us
33:32take the shape of pyramids.
33:37For the workers
33:38and their families,
33:39life in Pyramiden
33:41was one of structured isolation.
33:44They had six days working week,
33:48and normally they had Sundays off.
33:50And they did that for two years.
33:52They eat at the mess hall,
33:53and they got everything
33:54they needed here.
33:58Beyond Lennon's gaze
34:00in the town square,
34:01the abandoned buildings
34:03sit frozen in time.
34:05There are no families
34:07to enter or leave
34:08the once-crowded dormitories.
34:14No workers to use
34:16the industrial machinery.
34:17No one to use
34:22the sports equipment
34:23still standing
34:24in the gymnasium
34:25next to the dry tile
34:28of the indoor pool.
34:34There's still coal
34:36in the mountains
34:36above Pyramiden,
34:38but retrieving it
34:39proved to be more trouble
34:41than it was worth.
34:42People here left
34:44because it was no longer
34:46economically feasible
34:47to mine the coal.
34:49The coal mine itself,
34:51the seam of the coal,
34:53was way up
34:55near the top
34:56of those peaks.
34:58And it was a fairly
34:59thin seam of coal,
35:00so the Russians
35:01could not make
35:02a commercial business
35:04out of it
35:05and closed it down.
35:06The empty buildings
35:09of Pyramiden
35:10are now waging
35:11their own cold war
35:12for survival
35:13in the rigid Arctic climate.
35:16But there are
35:17certain advantages
35:18to being in the land
35:20of the polar bears.
35:22The Arctic temperatures
35:24are preserving
35:25the man-made structures here.
35:28Basically,
35:29time slows down.
35:31Think of the food
35:32in your refrigerator.
35:33You put food
35:34in the freezer
35:35and its deterioration
35:37rate slows down.
35:39Doesn't stop,
35:41but it slows down greatly.
35:44Even though Pyramiden
35:46is right by the shore,
35:48the low temperatures
35:49keep most of the moisture
35:50out of the air.
35:52In a temperate climate,
35:55water gets into buildings.
35:57It then freezes,
35:59expands,
36:00cracks the building system,
36:02cracks the walls,
36:04cracks the bricks.
36:04it allows mold to grow
36:08and then fungi
36:08and then plants themselves.
36:10Here,
36:11that's going to happen
36:13over decades
36:14rather than over a few years.
36:17The buildings around me
36:19have not been occupied
36:20since 1998,
36:22but they're in almost
36:24perfect condition.
36:25So how long
36:32will this abandoned
36:33mining village last?
36:38It's possible
36:39that someday
36:40Pyramiden could be known
36:42as the last town
36:44on Earth.
36:45Even 200,
36:47300,
36:48400 years from now,
36:50this building
36:51will probably be
36:52recognizable
36:53recognizable as a building.
36:55And it would not
36:56be recognizable
36:57as a building
36:58in a temperate climate.
37:00It would literally be
37:01a little pile of rubble
37:03that an archaeologist
37:04maybe coming
37:06from another planet
37:06would have to
37:07dig through
37:08and find that there
37:09was once a building there.
37:10But in far less
37:14than 200 years,
37:16the salty water
37:17and moist air
37:18of Sydney Harbor
37:19will unleash destructive
37:21forces hidden
37:22within one of the city's
37:24most famous landmarks.
37:2550 years after people.
37:38The devastating waves
37:40of a winter storm
37:41are tearing
37:42into a crumbling
37:43Santa Monica pier.
37:45The solar-powered
37:46ferrous wheel
37:47lighting system
37:48stopped working
37:49about four decades ago.
37:51And now,
37:53the rest of the rusting wheel
37:55is in trouble.
37:57Powerful waves
37:58and strong winds
37:59are wiping away
38:00most of the wheel.
38:02But the A-frame-shaped base
38:04remains.
38:06It's the same principle
38:08behind the incredible longevity
38:09of the Egyptian pyramids.
38:13A wide base
38:14and narrow top
38:16makes for an incredibly
38:17sturdy design.
38:18Even if the ferrous wheel
38:21left,
38:21that A-frame,
38:22I believe,
38:22would still be there
38:23for, I'd say,
38:24a hundred years.
38:25It's such a stout structure.
38:28It's an A-frame.
38:30It's just very strong
38:31in that shape,
38:31a triangle.
38:3275 years
38:45after people.
38:47In Sydney Harbor,
38:48the opera house
38:49is becoming unstable.
38:52Hundreds of feet above
38:53the crumbling pilings
38:54in the harbor,
38:56the moist, salty air
38:57has slowly eaten away
38:59at the building's
39:00signature shells.
39:02The iconic roof
39:04was built using
39:05an innovative technique
39:07that made the curved
39:08shape strong.
39:10It's a system known
39:11as pre-cast,
39:13pre-stressed.
39:15Cables are laid
39:17in a setting area,
39:19stretched as much as
39:21six inches over
39:22a hundred feet.
39:24And as soon as the
39:24concrete has cured
39:25to the design's strength,
39:27the cables are cut.
39:29And what happens,
39:29it's much like
39:30a rubber band.
39:31If you stretch it
39:32and let go,
39:32they want to snap
39:33back together.
39:36But now,
39:38the stretching technique
39:39that gave the shells
39:40their strength
39:41is working against
39:42their survival.
39:46It's a steel cable
39:47under pressure.
39:48It's going to snap.
39:50And as soon as
39:50one snaps,
39:51you're adding
39:52the pressure
39:53and the force
39:53from that area
39:54of the building
39:54to another area.
39:56an entire shell
39:58quickly rips itself
39:59apart.
40:04As the crumbling shells
40:06slam down
40:07onto the main deck,
40:08the pilings most exposed
40:12to the salty water
40:13fail,
40:14and the rest
40:15of the structure
40:16collapses toward
40:17the harbor.
40:17one of the most
40:21iconic buildings
40:23in the world
40:23is headed
40:25down under.
40:33One hundred years
40:35after people,
40:37within sight
40:38of where the majestic
40:39opera house
40:40once stood,
40:41the Sydney Harbor Bridge
40:43is nearing its own end.
40:44The aging steel
40:47is under
40:47tremendous stress.
40:50The hinges
40:51at each end
40:52of the arch
40:52once allowed
40:53the bridge
40:54to expand
40:55during the hot
40:55Australian days,
40:57but they became
40:58corroded and locked
40:59long ago.
41:02That pressure
41:04and severe corrosion
41:05could finally cause
41:06a cascade
41:07of crumbling supports.
41:08the bridge
41:18collapses
41:18into the harbor.
41:31Two hundred years
41:33after people,
41:35inland sections
41:36of the Alaska pipeline
41:38have corroded slowly
41:39in this cold climate.
41:42Here,
41:43it takes more
41:44than rusting steel
41:45to open the pipeline.
41:47In the time
41:48of humans,
41:49the many elevated
41:51sections of pipeline
41:52and their supports
41:53were designed
41:55not only to withstand
41:56the elements,
41:57but also strong
41:59Alaskan earthquakes.
42:01Two centuries later,
42:03the corroding structures
42:04are vulnerable.
42:05I imagine
42:08you will get
42:08an earthquake
42:08and the pipeline,
42:10if it's in the line
42:11of the earthquake,
42:12it's not going
42:12to survive.
42:14It's going to have
42:14cracks in it.
42:16And when the cracks occur,
42:18then you're going
42:18to spill everything out.
42:20But because the pieces
42:22of pipeline
42:22are in one of the
42:23coldest parts
42:24of the world,
42:26away from the
42:27devastating effects
42:27of water,
42:29they may be
42:30some of the last
42:31remains of man.
42:32I would say
42:34that's going to be
42:34one of the long-lasting
42:35artifacts that people
42:36left behind.
42:37I did a calculation
42:38if you had a really
42:39low corrosion rate.
42:41Many steel products
42:42would last
42:43over 2,000 years,
42:442,500 years.
42:45500 years
42:57after people.
42:59Cities
43:00and temperate
43:01climates
43:01have virtually
43:02disappeared
43:02as they crumbled
43:04and became
43:05overgrown
43:05by plants
43:06and trees.
43:09But the abandoned
43:11mining town
43:11of Pyramiden
43:12on a Norwegian island
43:14just 800 miles
43:15from the North Pole
43:16is still recognizable.
43:20Due to the cold,
43:22dry climate,
43:23it's one of the best
43:24preserved towns
43:25on the planet.
43:28Unlike the many places
43:30where water
43:31has unleashed
43:32its destructive power.
43:34in the next episode,
43:41life after people
43:42takes to the skies.
43:44What secrets
43:44will emerge
43:45from the highest altitudes?
43:47Could a lack
43:48of air travel
43:48actually change
43:49the weather?
43:50What did NASA
43:51hope to prevent
43:52by destroying
43:53the space probe?
43:54And this apocalyptic
43:55place was meant
43:56to protect man
43:57from airborne
43:58Armageddon.
43:59to be continued...