On Friday, the 13th of October, 1972, a charter plane carrying 45 passengers, including a college rugby team, vanished over the desolate, snow-covered Andes Mountains. For 72 days, the world thought they were dead.

Over the American Great Plains, tornadoes lurk in the sky, powerful and unpredictable, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. We'll examine historic twisters that prowled the Midwest--from the Natchez tornado of 1840, the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, to the Plainfield disaster of 1990.

Since the end of World War II, tsunamis have killed more people in the U.S. than earthquakes. Mysterious, deadly, and unlike other natural killers, they exhibit no obvious warning signs. Yet within minutes, the ocean rises to an amazing height, sending tons of water crashing to shore. We'll revisit the 1946 and 1960 lethal Hawaiian tsunamis.

Though American dam builders have refined their skills in their attempts to harness water's awesome power, water will always prove hazardous. We examine some of the worst dam breaks and the destruction they caused, including the largest U.S. dam ever to give way. On June 5, 1976, the 305-foot-high Teton Dam gave way, and 11 lives were lost.

On June 8, 1966, a massive tornado hit Topeka, Kansas, dispelling the common myth that tornadoes only touch down in rural areas. Burnett's Mound, a large hill on the city's southwest corner, served as a supposed protector. According to legend, the sacred mound, once an Indian burial ground, would act as a blockade to the city if confronted by a tornado. But around 7pm, Topekans found themselves in an elemental war zone as the funnel ripped through the city, killing 17 and leaving 2,500 homeless.

On February 1, 1953, a combination of an exceptionally high spring tide and hurricane winds drove the North Sea over the dikes to flood vast areas along Holland's southwest coast. It was a national disaster with catastrophic results. Over 1,800 people drowned, flushed from their homes like flotsam. 47,000 homes and 150 miles of dikes were destroyed, and some of the nation's most fertile land was ruined by salt water. We'll review the worst flood disaster in over 500 years of Dutch history.

On average, flash floods claim more lives than any other natural disaster in the U.S. In a matter of hours or even minutes, rain combines with a river or stream, creating a deadly wall of water. In June 1903, in less than an hour, a flash flood claimed nearly one-fourth of the population of Heppner, Oregon. And on June 31, 1976, 140 people died in a flash flood in Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado. These two cases illustrate the deadly fury of flash floods in our look at these stealthful natural killers.