A group of high school students are in a car together in the night as a storm is brewing. When the storm gets worse, they look up ahead and see a tornado approaching. A girl begs for them to go, but the boy recording on a camera gets out to video tape the tornado. He gets back in the car, but the tornado picks them up before they can escape, killing them all.
In Upstate New York, a waste management firm loads barrels of toxic waste onto trucks, intending to illegally dispose of them. They are shown heading into a tunnel under the Hudson River between Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, New Jersey along with several other commuters, including struggling playwright Maddy Thompson (Amy Brenneman), some young offenders, a vacationing family, an elderly couple, and a mountain climber named Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen). Meanwhile, a gang of diamond thieves in a stolen car try to escape the NYPD by racing into the tunnel. The gang force their way through the north tube traffic, spilling the diamonds all over the floor of the car. While a female thief tries to retrieve them, she pushes the gas pedal to the floor, causing the driver to lose control, smashing though a security booth and into one of the trucks, killing them instantly. The waste barrels explode, causing the other trucks to explode and setting off a chain reaction. The tunnel entrances cave in, and a devastating fireball sweeps through the tunnel, incinerating thousands of cars and people.
In 1959, student Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson) hears whispers as she stares at the sun. When her class is chosen to contribute to the school's time capsule, each child is asked to draw what they believe the future will look like. Lucinda writes a page of seemingly random numbers and adds it to her elementary school's time capsule, which is set to be opened in 50 years. Lucinda's teacher calls for the pupils to finish but Lucinda continues before her teacher takes it off her desk unfinished. Lucinda then goes missing after the time capsule is dedicated, and is found by her teacher, Mrs. Taylor (Danielle Carter), in a utility closet scratching numbers into the door with her fingernails bleeding.
Two firefighters of Engine 17 of the Chicago Fire Department, are brothers. Lt. Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey, the elder, is experienced, while Brian has labored under his brother's shadow all his life. He returns to firefighting after a number of other careers falter, though Stephen has doubts that Brian is fit to be a firefighter. As a child, Brian witnessed the death of their firefighting father, Dennis, when he accompanied him on a call.
In 1958, two U.S. Air Force pilots and aspiring astronauts, William "Hawk" Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones) and Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), are testing a modified X-plane when Hawk decides to try to break a height record. The plane stalls and they are forced to eject, narrowly missing a B-50 Superfortress piloted by navigator "Tank" Sullivan (James Garner) as they parachute to safety. On the ground, Frank punches Hawk for putting their lives at risk, but their fight is broken up by engineer Jerry O'Neill (Donald Sutherland). Their supervising officer, Bob Gerson (James Cromwell), chastises Hawk for his recklessness, before taking them to a press conference, where it is announced that the Air Force will no longer be involved in space flight tests as this has now been handed off to the newly created NASA, ending the four's dreams of reaching space.
An earthquake strikes the city of Los Angeles. Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones), the head of the city's Office of Emergency Management, insists on coming to work to help out with the crisis, even though he has taken a vacation with his daughter Kelly (Gaby Hoffmann). His associate Emmit Reese (Don Cheadle) notes the quake caused no major damage, but seven utility workers are later burned to death in a storm drain, one escaped and survived but was severely burned on one side of his face at MacArthur Park. As a precaution, Roark tries to halt the subway lines which run parallel to where the deaths took place, but Los Angeles MTA Chairman Stan Olber (John Carroll Lynch) declines, feeling there is no threat to the trains. Against regulations, Roark and a colleague Gator Harris (Michael Rispoli) venture down the storm sewer in the park to investigate. They are nearly burned to death when hot gases suddenly spew out of a crack in the concrete lining and flood the tunnel. Geologist Dr. Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) believes a volcano may be rapidly forming beneath the city with magma flowing underground (similar to the formation of the Mexican volcano Parícutin which emerged and grew tremendously in just one week) but cannot come up with enough evidence for Roark to take action.
Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis leads an unsuccessful raid on a Chechen mafia safe house in Italy by a U.S. Army Special Forces team to recover a stolen Soviet nerve agent, DZ-5. One of his men is killed during the raid.
Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) travaille comme électricien sur la plateforme Deepwater Horizon située dans le golfe du Mexique. Entre Mike Williams et son patron Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell), l'entente est parfaite car le premier connaît le professionnalisme du second. Il ne fait pas confiance en revanche à la société locataire dirigée par Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich), qui ne pense qu'au profit au détriment de la sécurité de toute l'équipe. Une mauvaise manœuvre technique, motivée par l'argent, provoque un effroyable accident. Alors qu'une éruption de pétrole se produit et que le puits s'enflamme, Mike et ses collègues vont tenter de sauver la plateforme et leurs vies.
Architect Doug Roberts (Newman) returns to San Francisco for the dedication of the Glass Tower, which he designed for owner James Duncan (Holden). At 138 stories (1,800 ft/550 m), it is the world's tallest building. Shortly after his arrival, an electrical short starts an undetected fire on the 81st floor while Roberts accuses the building's electrical engineer, Roger Simmons (Chamberlain), of cutting corners. Simmons insists the building is up to standards.
Four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. As she prepares for the fifth wave, Cassie teams up with a young man who may become her final hope – if she can only trust him.
Chicago is paralyzed by a snowstorm affecting Lincoln International Airport. A Trans Global Airlines (TGA) Boeing 707 flight crew misjudge their turn off of Runway 29 on to the taxiway, becoming stuck in the snow and closing Runway 29, forcing airport manager Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster) to work overtime. This causes tension with his wife, Cindy (Dana Wynter). Divorce is looming as he nurtures a closer relationship with a co-worker, TGA customer relations agent Tanya Livingston (Jean Seberg). Bakersfield's brother-in-law, Vernon Demarest (Dean Martin), is a TGA captain scheduled to be the checkride captain for TGA to evaluate Captain Anson Harris (Barry Nelson) during TGA's Flight 2 to Rome. Flight 2 is aboard TGA's flagship service craft, a Boeing 707 known as The Golden Argosy. Although Demarest is married to Bakersfield's sister, Sarah (Barbara Hale), he is secretly having an affair with Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), chief stewardess on Flight 2, who informs him before the flight that she is pregnant with his child.
When a massive tectonic shift triggers a tsunami capable of swallowing whole continents, the military creates an ark capable of holding only 50,000 people and the DNA of every species possible while the storm consumes most of the world.
Haley vit en Floride. Un violent ouragan s’abat sur sa ville natale. Ignorant l'ordre d’évacuer, Haley part à la recherche de son père, porté disparu. Elle va finalement le retrouver, grièvement blessé dans le sous-sol de leur ancienne maison familiale. Haley et son père vont vite se rendre compte qu'une inondation progressant très rapidement les menace. Haley et son père vont par ailleurs comprendre que l’inondation est loin d’être la menace la plus terrifiante : l'inondation amène des alligators.
The SS Poseidon, an ocean liner slated for retirement and scrapping, makes her way across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea from New York City to Athens. Despite protests from Captain Harrison, who fears for the ship's safety, the representative of her new owners, Mr. Linarcos, insists that she make full speed towards her destination to save money, preventing her from taking on additional ballast.
After Jim (Julian McMahon) surprises his wife Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) with a new house, they have two daughters, Megan (Shyann McClure) and Bridgette (Courtney Taylor Burness). While Jim is away on a business trip, Linda is left to take care of the girls.