Outbreak

Outbreak
Episode Information
Episode	2
Season	1
No. in Series	2
Air Date	April 28, 2009
Directed by	Louis C. Tarantino
Produced by	Louis C. Tarantino (Executive Producer) Douglas J. Cohen (Executive Producer) Adrian Maher
Wrtten by	Adrian Maher
Episode Guide
Previous	The Bodies Left Behind
Next	The Capital Threat

Outbreak is the second episode of season one of Life After People: The Series. It originally aired on April 28, 2009.

Synopsis

This episode predicts the uncontrolled encroachment of nature upon the abandoned cities of Chicago, Atlanta and London, and the fate of their structures from London's Big Ben to Chicago's Sears Tower, and the Confederate Memorial Carving in Stone Mountain. It also shows how deadly viruses, like rabies, could spawn out of control as the populations of escaped pets, and animals, like pigs and the royal corgis belonging to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, could live on in post-apocalyptic Earth. The episode also explores Gary, Indiana, portions of which were abandoned by people in the late 1970's.

Plot

1 Day After People

Humans that once keeping responsible from the forces of nature have disappeared and nature is ready for an outbreak. In the Wrigley Field in Chicago, there's no one to gardened the walls, no one to maintain the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center as a tomb stone, and no one to manage the Chicago River that connects to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, one of the most heavily engineered waterways in the world.

3 Days After People

A flooded Chicago.

It's been 3 days since humans disappeared and a rainstorm hits Chicago. The Chicago River should have flow into Lake Michigan but in 1900's man transformed the entire river to prevent pollution on the drinking water of Chicago, this engineering techniques were later used in the Panama Canal. 3 days after people, the river takes revenge, Richard Lanyon stated that without people to open the gates to manipulate the water levels, the entire river system were quickly filled up, then it will flood the lower areas of Downtown Chicago and the basements of the buildings. The flood then takes its toll to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, where it ends in Lockport controlling works. The cascade of water soon breached the gates, forcing the control works to collapse. Richard Lanyon then stated that about 10 to 20 billion gallons of water are behind the gates of Lockport and once it collapse, the wall of water send a torrent down the Des Plaines river to the city of Joliet where it overtop the river walls and flood the city center. Just days after people have caused entire towns in the American Midwest to be wiped out by the raging flood.

1 Week After People

In London, Big Ben is running out of time. Gordon Masterton stated that clock have been continuously working for 150 years and it went through extreme weather, storms, and The Blitz during World War 2. The clock had to be wound 3 times a week by the 2 royal clock-mechanics which took several hours to complete, Gordon Masterton then stated that without people, the clock would stop for the first time in 150 years and the chimes stop chiming. With the clock stop, the tower remains, but it has leaned 8.6 inches to the northwest of the tower.

2 Weeks After People

In the Buckingham Palace, the Queen's corgis are all alone. The palace contains 775 rooms, and that includes the 76 bathrooms, this provide the corgis for water source. For food source, the Royal Kitchen have a basement for food, thus when the corgis have located it, they soon feed to the food that left behind for at least a few months.

1 Month After People

Kudzu, an invasive species.

On the outskirts of Atlanta, kudzu is starting to spread. It was bought to the United States in 1876 from Japan in order to feed the farmers animals and erosion control, but it didn't go as planned. John Taylor stated that kudzu can grow up a foot a day, and can grow rapidly in bright sunlight & fertile soil. It can spreads more than 18 feet underground and it requires 25 man maintenance team to clear the roadways in Atlanta and the surrounding counties. John Taylor stated that in order to clear kudzu, it have to keep going back and kill the aboveground portion of the plant till the energy reserves in the root system are exhausted, ad with the size and depth of the roots, it is a difficult job. Without the maintenance team, kudzu starts reeking havoc. Kudzu starts strangling trees, climbing telephone poles and power lines, covering bridges and roadways, and enveloping the rural houses. John Taylor then stated that there will be nothing to grow but kudzu and it is a dead spot environment.

Meanwhile, 60 million pigs in North America begins to struggle. They fed a demand of 23 kilos of pork per American every year in the time of humans. Without any farmers to feed the species, they begin to starve, others are resort to cannibalism.

2 Month After People

The surviving pigs began to panic. The bigger pigs that weight 500 pounds starts pushing their way out of the pen, while others began burrowing under sheds. Eventually, millions of pigs escape into the wilds. John Anderson stated that pigs are omnivores and very intelligent, meaning that they can survive in a variety of conditions. After escaping, they began to to start breeding the feral swine in California, Texas, and Florida. Causing a new pig hybrid, they are more leaner, meaner, and more mobile with larger tusks and more hair, this makes the pigs to thrive

3 Months After People

The Queens corgis have escaped Buckingham Palace.

Back at the Buckingham Palace, the Queen's corgis have depleted most of the food in the royal pantry and kitchen. These food were originally for banquets up to 600 people and daily meals for 400 palace staff. The corgis begins to venture of the city, as they exit the palace 775 rooms. John Anderson stated that corgis as pampered pets are incapable of living by itself. The show explains the biology of corgis, which were originally bred as working dogs on the Welsh farms to round up herds of sheep and cattle. John Anderson then stated that corgis as a working dog would able to move very well since they got sharp teeth and efficient digestive system making these traits to allow them to survive even in the absence of human. Since bears and wolves have been extinct in the British Isles for centuries, the Queen's corgis won't have to worry, especially rabies, which have been eradicated in the 20th century.

In America, pets that are lucky enough to escape their homes now face rabies, one of wildlife's most terrifying outbreak. More than 7000 animals, about 90% in the wilds, were annually infected with rabies in the time of humans. When the virus infect an animal, it struck the nervous system and cause inflammation which in turn into an antagonizing death. Every year, each states from Texas and Arizona drop oral bake vaccines by aircraft in order to prevent the disease to spread further the wild life. But without people to carry out the vaccination, it spires for over 30% in the coming years. Domestic dogs and cats have became infected with the virus that have been ventured out into the wild and bitten by the infected animal. John Anderson stated that infected animals go through fury and some dogs infected with rabies are known to actually bite up to another hundred animals.

1 Year After People

In Chicago, nature is beginning to rise, including the ivies at the Wrigley Field as its begins to extend its green tendrils. These vines were flourished in the 1937 when they were planted to decorate and cover the outer wall, but without groundkeepers, the ivy begins to threat by overrun the whole stadium. While each vine can grow to a maximum of 15 feet, their vines can shed their leaves in each winter, causing organic material to sticks into the cracks of brick and concrete. It can decomposes into soil, which creates a higher platform for the news vines.

5 Years After People

The ivies started blanketing the stands.

The ivies have crawled up and blanketed the stands of the Wrigley Field. Its roots have mostly inserted moisture into the cracks causing it to break up the walls. Another plant species, the buckthorn, begins to take over the pitch. It was brought from Europe in the mid 1800's. Liam Henegan stated that the birds spread buckthorn as its eat the fruit, making the birds to cause diarrhea, which in the way would quickly disseminate the plant. Groundskeepers had to mow the pitch regularly and treat the grass with chemicals to prevent any seeds taking root in the time of humans. Without groundkeepers, buckthorn seeds quickly fertilize on the pitch and sprouting in the wild that can grow up to 10 feet tall.

10 Years After People

The Sears Tower is slowly deteriorating from years of rainwater. In the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire that lasted from October 8 to October 10 in 1871, the city began rebuilding vertically with new frames of steel, thus beginning the dawn of the skyscrapers. Moisture seeps down the skyscraper and begins rusting the bolts which holds the giant glass and aluminum panels as rainwater rots the roof of the structure. The combination of freezing wind, rain, and snow off the Lake Michigan violently batter the structure causing the plates to peel off the building and crash into the streets below.

30 Years After People

In order to look what future may hold for lakefront cities like Chicago, it will only have to look at what happened to the city of Gary, Indiana.

Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana. A partial abandoned city.

Visiting Gary, Indiana, although parts of it were alive and well, large areas have been abandoned. Bill Latoza tour the abandoned areas of Gary, Indiana and explains the history and story of the city. It's history started when it was founded in 1906 by U.S. Steel as a company town for industry. Large areas of Gary was abandoned when the economy of U.S. Steel started to slide downward causing the city to vacate and abandoned. He then explains that Lake Michigan is Gary demise due to its high humidity in both seasons and tremendous amount of freeze thaw cycles.

Bill Latoza showcase some notable buildings, firstly the Gary Union Station. The history of the Gary Union Station started in 1910 when it was first built and was a vital Midwestern hub for transporting steel freight and thousands of passengers. 30 years have taken toll on the Gary Union Station with the skylight shattered into the interior causing moisture to seeks in and parts of the roof to collapse. Bill Latoza then showcase the Methodist Church, not far away from the Gary Union Station. It's history is started in 1925 when it was first built but with the decline of Gary, the population of parishioners went from 3,000 to less than 200 and the church is ceased in 1975. The damage is similar to the Gary Union Station, but the hole in the roof got larger causing all of the plaster to deteriorated and the roof to collapse, and without it, the bricks attracts moisture and develops moss and 3 decades of battering hind winds, blistering sun, and freezing snow have cause the church to be close to complete collapse. Bill Latoza then showcase the Palace Theater, a 3,000 seat old legendary show-halls of the West. The damage to the theater is shown that the wood and prairie have been deteriorate and is on the floor and animals have walked through the building. The episode ends the visitation stating that Gary provides a glimpse of life in 30 years after people.

50 Years After People

The descendants of the royal corgis prowls the streets of London, but are no longer a breed that the Queen will recognize. After several generations of breeding with other dogs, any traits of their royal lineage are long gone and they have evolved into a pack of wild hounds.

Atlanta covered in kudzu.

In Atlanta, kudzu is invading the city and its skyscraper. John Taylor stated that kudzu would cover most of the major buildings in downtown Atlanta including the Coca-Cola Building and is showing to be grown in small and abandoned lots and those have already creep out of the sites. When the the kudzu dies in the winter, the plant sends up new set of vines in the spring which cause to continue to climb and the deep underground root networks are now storing vast amounts of nutrients. John Taylor stated that kudzu are capable of fast growth, which caused buildings to be climbed by kudzu with a hundred feet. The Georgia Dome, Atlanta's premier sports stadium, is fighting for survival against kudzu. John Taylor stated that the vines alone can cause fatal collapse on the roof of the structure. While the kudzu overruns Atlanta, a thunderstorm roves in. Atlanta has experienced drought before in the time of humans, which caused kudzu to turn into tinderbox. Now, a lightning strikes the dried kudzu, causing the entire city to burn like it did during the Civil War. The glowing flames have light up the Confederate Memorial Carving on the nearby town of Stone Mountain.

In Chicago, wild growth have caused the Wrigley Field to become almost unrecognizable. The wooden scoreboard is now under siege of ivy and termites. It was one of the only 2 in a major stadium to be manually operated in the time of humans. But now, termites takes operation on the scoreboard which caused it to crumbles. On the field, thick nets of buck-thorns have been grown up to 20 feet high, which in turn blanketing the playing field.

100 Years After People

Disintegration is happening at the Chicago famous railway system, the elevated Chicago "L". In the time of humans, it was first founded in 1892 and began moving passengers to transport them to the city center, which in turn the second oldest in America. The paint of the steel girders is peeling off and the iron and steel is already exposed causing rust to eat away. The bolts and rivets erode, cracks, and snaps, causing the supporting beams to fracture. Matthew Kubik stated that as the pieces fall, it caused distortion, and the fracture of one member starts pulling down the other members, causing the domino effect to fall to the ground.

Big Ben collapses after an unstable tilt.

In London, the Thames river continues to rise, and rots Big Ben foundation. It's already covered in vegetation, the windows have blown out and decorative stonework have chipped away. Gordon Masterton stated that the tilt within the tower gradually increase, becoming unstable till gravity takes over causing the tower to collapse to the ground.

200 Years After People

The Sears Tower after 200 years.

In Chicago, the Sears Tower is beginning to crumble. Weather have battered the landmark into it's interior and the multiple shafts, ending in different level cause the cables to rust and snap, but the lift's brakes continue to work. But eventually, the brakes corrode and give way, falling down through the building, damaging and blasting the floors. 2 lifts connects the ground floor to the observation deck, and one of them free falls from the top floor speeding up to more than 200mph before hitting the ground, generating more than 1 and a half million pounds of force into its impact. However, it isn't the only one that can topple Sears Tower. Matthew Kubik stated that the real Achilles heel is the 8 floors underground. The Chicago River have flood the building before, and this weakens the lower interior columns, causing it to corrodes and the entire skyscraper collapse. Matthew Kubik stated that once it simply falls all at once, it will turn into a massive ball of smoke with the heaping mass of twisted metal, concrete, and broken glass. As the Sears Tower collapse, everything close by on the ground is destroyed in the solid impact.

250 Years After People

While the Sears Tower have collapsed decades earlier, the John Hancock Center is still standing. It owes its longevity due to its unique cross X-bracing of the steel beams located the outer exterior of the building which gives extra reinforced. But all of it's windows have been blown out and moisture have corroded its steel framing. At the corner of the 85th floor, the crucial beams converge, and the domino effect of rust, bend, and fracture of the stream of water have caused a critical nook. The final beams cracks and shears off causing the 15 floors above it start a corner-line collapse, eventually the John Hancock Center finally collapses after the floors then set off a floor-by-floor implosion destroying the whole edifice and down the entire skyscraper.

300 Years After People

In the wilds, the rabies are struggling to survive. The virus requires dense animal populations in order to spread but domestic animals die off and wild animals have disperse from human settlements. This cause the virus to only infect to a little as several thousand animals per year, causing the outbreak to die off and the pandemic is over.

5000 Years After People

The Confederate Memorial Carving endures.

Outside of Atlanta, Stone Mountain is the largest piece of exposed granite in the world, and it is the location of the Confederate Memorial Carving. In the 1920s, the sculpture was first raised for work by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to begin work on the massive sculpture based off the Confederate States Civil War Leader Jefferson Davies, and Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Mark Lassiter stated that granite is one of the hardest rocks on the face of the Earth due to hardly any crack. The sculpture was eventually completed in 1972, and it was measured from 90 to 190 feet. After 5,000 years, the carving is invaded by nature, but 90% of the carving remains completely intact, and it is still recognizable. Mark Lassiter stated that it will get the impression that it will last forever.

Epilogue

Great cities of Chicago, London, & Atlanta have rise because of their geographical proximity of rivers, lakes, and fertile soils. The thriving metropolis are now rubbles, covered in vegetation, swarmed by wildlife, and camouflage beneath the mounds. Cities have been conquered by nature, losing many battles, and the environment have won the war, to retake the land where man great cities have built.

Transcript

Life After People Wiki has a transcript for this episode. To see it, click here.

Credits

Flight 33 Productions, LLC

Executive Producers

• Louis C. Tarantino
• Douglas J. Cohen

Director

• Louis C. Tarantino

Producer

• Adrian Maher

Writer

• Adrian Maher

Errors

• Gordon Masterton stated that Big Ben would stop working for the first time ever should life after people occur. However, the clock has actually stopped several times, including its first ever stop in 1878 and a major breakdown that occurred on August 5, 1976.
• The picture of the Buckingham Palace used on 7:46 mark shows two Queen's Guards standing on both sides despite the "In the time of humans" section already conclude. It is possible the producers forgot to edit the picture to remove the Queen's Guards or was supposed to use in "In the time of humans" section.

Trivia

• Outbreak is a term for a sudden increase of violence activity, sudden rise of disease, and sudden increase in numbers of harmful organism.
  • All terms mentioned are related to the events within the episode: the former is related to the outburst of water of the Chicago River from the Lockport gates in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to the Des Plaines River, the second is related to sudden increase cases of rabies in the United States, and the latter is related to the outbreak of kudzu in Atlanta.

Gallery

The thumbnail of the episode (Big Ben) on History's official Youtube channel.

The thumbnail of the episode (Wrigley Field) as seen on History.com.

The Sears Tower as seen on Hvault.

Life After People- Chicago River Floods ENTIRE City (Season 1)

A clip of the episode beginning.