completely demolished. incredibly, the truck driver s not hurt, but two train passengers suffer minor injuries. local police say the truck driver ignores the lights and the bells and tries to beat the crossing arms that are lowering. the driver s ticketed for not stopping. urbandale, iowa, february 25th, 2007. a massive winter storm pounds the midwest with high winds, bitter cold, and more than a foot of ice and snow. we already have up to ten inches of snow. at least nine people die in traffic accidents across the plains as a result of the storm. nearly 500,000 lose power. in urbandale, just outside des moines, the state s capital, the conditions are particularly dangerous.
hospital. all survive the incredible crash. the fuselage around their seats protecting them like a cocoon. their unbelievable survival becomes a national story, and pilot russ mowry is interviewed on the today show. my last thought was i wanted to get away from the street, wanted to hit a rooftop, get on the rooftop level. i saw that what i thought was a white chimney. i said, if i can hit that chimney and stop, that will arrest my forward motion. i ll stop when i hit the chimney and land on the roof. i thought, well, this is it. and it s over. and it was no flashbacks. i m dead, and that s it. i woke up in the ambulance. mowry reports to the tower seconds before crashing that his tail rotor isn t working. an investigation concludes that a drive belt failed, causing the helicopter to lose all hydraulic power. that is the absolute worst thing to happen. that is a nightmare for pilots.
also offer them a modest reward for their service. sponsor change.org. that s the website. check it out. raymar hampshire, founder, thank you sof. appreciate you stopping by. and do you have a big idea making a difference? tell us about it. we d love to hear from you. you can e-mail us. there s the address on the screen. you can also tweet us, as well. we re all over twitter. there s the hash tag. eople clea. but there are some places even mr. clean doesn t want to lug a whole bunch of cleaning supplies. that s why he created the magic eraser extra power. just one eraser s versatile enough to clean all kinds of different surfaces and three times more grime per swipe. so instead of fussing with rags and buckets, you can get back to the great outdoors, which can be pretty great. that s why when it comes to clean, there s only one mr. [ bird screeches ]
the ice storm started the day before followed by snow which led to building up on the high wires. the entire town is coated in ice and heavy snow. the fire department is busy responding to a variety of calls, including a report that a tree has fallen onto a section of residential power lines. when we arrived, it was basically just arcing. the limbs were smoldering a little bit, there was heavy snow on the limb that was touching the wire. so not a major deal thought to be at that time. it s routine work they ve all done before, and soon a tv news crew shows up. power was out all over the city. and our job was just to go around and get shots of where power was out, where power lines are breaking, tree limbs snapping. cameraman lee roush begins recording an interview with assistant fire chief jim mitchell. jim mitchell, j-i-m m-i-t-c-h-e-l-l. okay. assistant chief? assistant chief. have you guys been busy? has it been mostly calls like these? haven t been too bad tod
boom, the vibration in the ground and the heat on the back of my neck. holy cow! the high-voltage wires unleash a fury of arcing energy. the thing the tape doesn t show is the vibration. i mean, we were all, like it was, like, did we get shocked, or what was that? it just doesn t show how loud or how much energy was released when that thing let go. you could really feel it. it was like the bass at a rock concert. it was just shaking. everyone is stunned by the unbelievable surge of power and flames. the ball of fire originally started out small. and by the end it was probably the size of a full-size pickup truck. so it was enormous. it was huge. and the vibration of the ground was incredible. you know, when 7,620 volts blows up right behind you, it s tough to be prepared for that. the explosion continues for several hundred feet, shooting out sparks and blowing out a transformer. watch out, jason!