04x05 - Flood, Sweat & Tears (Part 1)

[bunniefuu]

Debbie: wow.

Inside!

We're one storm away
from disaster.

Man: it's like a river running
through the homestead.

We got homesteaders directly
in the path of floodwaters.

If the kids leave, my homestead
legacy ends with it.

Predators took us out,


What?

Water actually goes
underneath this house?

What if we move that building
to high ground?

We don't want to pick up
and move.

If we don't move that cabin,

It could mean the end
of the smith legacy.

Woman: we can turn it into
a self-sustaining moneymaker.

We need to take this
knife-making business

And turn it into something
they could live off of.

Blazing hot.

It looks amazing.

I will look you right
in the eye and say,

"I've never built a dam
like this in my life,

But I'm not afraid of it."

If you have that breach of that
dam, it all comes down at once.

I don't want this on camera.
We need to take a break.

Man: so we got one of those
flash floods.

-Oh, my god.
-We have a real problem.

We got hail coming down.

-Look at that.
-Be careful!

Man:
everybody stay in, please.

Last time I was in missouri,
I was defeated by the floods,

And now,
a big storm is coming.

♪♪

--Captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

We just passed a sign back there
that said, "ozark county."

Are we in missouri?
I just woke up.

-[ Laughs ] yes.
-We're in the ozarks.

We've been on this road before.

This is the road that flooded.

We didn't make it across
last time we were here, did we?

Oh, my lord.

Narrator:
the raneys are heading back

To the unforgiving ozark
mountains of missouri,

Where, last year, they were
caught in a hundred-year storm.

Get off of there!

We're gonna get struck
by lightning!

Come on!
Let's get out of here!

Narrator: flash floods
annihilated the area...

Marty: is that power lines
in the water right there?

Narrator: ...forcing the raneys
to abandon their rescue

For the first time ever.

We don't get to finish
what we started.

It's really disappointing.

I've been talking about
mother nature all week,

And she wins.

Narrator: missouri is a hotbed
of extreme weather.

Arctic winds clash with hot
and humid air

Causing severe tornadoes
and storms.

In the last five years alone,

The state has suffered
over 60 fatalities

And hundreds of millions
of dollars in damage,

Leaving jerry and debbie smith
terrified of the next disaster.

Mother nature, she's a beast.

Our world as we know
it could end.

It's time to call the raneys
and get some help in here.

♪♪

-Hey, good morning.
-Hey.

-Nice to meet you.
-Yeah, you, too.

-Hi, marty. Hey.
-Lovely to see you.

That's our daughter, kasee,
and her husband, dustin.

Hi, misty.

-How are you?
-How has it been?

There's a lot of blood,
sweat and tears.

Narrator:
the smiths' homestead legacy

Began over a century ago
in texas.

I was raised by my grandmother.
She was born in 1912.

They all grew up homesteaders.

They taught me
all the old ways,

And I've had to learn
a lot of the new ways.

[ Laughs ]

The whole deal of moving here
is to carry on homesteading

Like our ancestors did.

Narrator: so five years ago,

They uprooted
from the lone star state

And bought 33 acres
of remote land

On the edge of missouri's
mark twain national forest.

The dream was for us
to all be here.

♪♪

Narrator:
their children followed,

Each claiming a five-acre plot

To start their own
homesteading lives

And continue
the family legacy.

Opening it up.

Parker:
my name is parker smith.

We really are a real
tight-knit family,

Which you don't see
a whole lot of that anymore,

And that's just --

It's something that mom and dad
always wanted,

Was for us kids to stay close.

Narrator:
parker's sister, kasee,

Lives on
the homestead with dustin,

Her husband of five years.

We love being here
and just working together.

Him and i, we're a great team.

I wouldn't change it.

I do want to start a family.

I want to put my roots here,
and I want to keep them here.

This was the first building
that we built on our property.

The ultimate goal would to be
self-sufficient

And to not go to town
for anything

And be right here
with each other.

Narrator:
the smiths had a grand plan --

Generate two sources of income,
one from livestock...

I was gonna start breeding
chickens and guineas

And ducks to be able
to produce our income.

Narrator: ...and the other from
jerry's custom-made knives

With son parker
helping the family business.

Jerry: I've been making knives
for 14 years.

That's how I've made my living.

I enjoy passing what I know
on to my kids,

And I feel like anything
they learn from me,

That's a part of me
that gets to live on.

Narrator: but the missouri
wilderness soon showed them

The brutal reality
of homesteading.

Predators took us out.

It was raccoons and would just
stick his hand in there,

Pull the chick out, bite
its head and leave its body.

It was a devastating waste.

Narrator:
the homestead is failing

To be self-sustainable,

Forcing debbie and the kids
to take jobs in town

And leaving jerry to run
the homestead on his own.

I'm missing income
because the homestead

Is taking over my business.

Narrator: but worst of all,

Floods frequently gush
through the homestead

Descending onto kasee
and dustin's plot.

We're one storm away
from disaster.

Wow.

That cabin can't hold up.

If it all goes wrong

And the kids leave
the homestead,

Jerry and I
just couldn't continue.

The kids leave, my homestead
legacy ends with it.

♪♪

Narrator:
a west plains weather alert

Has forecast a huge storm
in just five days,

So marty heads straight
to the flood zone

And the home of married
couple kasee and dustin.

I take it that's your cabin?

Yes, this is home.

-These all look like newborns.
-Yes.

The water stressed her
out enough to go into labor,

And the next morning
we had piglets.

I mean, how deep was it?

-I've seen about to here.
-Probably up to our -- yeah.

Why was the house put there?

We didn't know.

Now, is it gonna stay there?
What's its plan?

Our plan is to double in size.

Did you just say that to me?

There's a building like this
at the top of the hill.

Yeah.

Move it and hook it
onto this one.

To that building right there?

Yeah.

Listen to what
you're telling me.

The floods are getting worse.

I would think twice about moving
that other cabin to here.

-Yeah.
-Wouldn't you?

Well, we hope to fix
the problem first.

Do you have connections
with somebody up there?

Well, after they explained
to me for 15 minutes

How this is a terrible
location of a cabin,

They enlighten me
with this news.

"Yeah, we have another cabin
down there

We're gonna move over here
and attach to this one,"

And I thought she was joking.

When it rains, it pours.

[ Thunder crashes ]

♪♪

Narrator: across the homestead,
jerry and son parker

Show matt the family business.

Matt: it looks
a little bit cluttered.

Things end up displaced.

When the bad weather comes,
you know, we have to have

A place to shove it,
so I shove it in here.

Well, it shoves me out there,
and I don't get a lot of time

Because all the other chores
around the homestead.

Your knives are amazing.
They're handcrafted.

I mean, you don't just make
cheap, dime-store trinkets.

They range anywhere from
$450 to 3 grand.

-That's good money.
-Yeah.

I want one of your knives.

We need to work a deal out.

-I'll sell you one real quick.
-[ Laughs ]

Yeah, we'll work a deal out.

Don't worry.
It's not a hobby.

I mean, this is, like,
your livelihood.

Right now, jerry's workshop,

It's definitely not sustaining
this homestead.

This is literally what
they could live off of.

It's just not being realized.

[ Switch clicks ]

[ Chittering ]

[ Clucking ]

Okay, so you have pigs.

We have pigs and chickens.

Narrator:
the smiths keep livestock,

But their grocery bill still
reaches 1,000 bucks a month.

Debbie: I had 30 chickens.

I am down to four.

What?

We had a run with some --

A nasty raccoon, which we're
not familiar with that in texas.

-That's a pretty big blow.
-It's a big hit.

I wanted to sell eggs, and we
wanted to breed the birds

So I wouldn't have to go
to town to work.

That was part of the dream
moving here.

It's pretty bleak.
It really is.

You have a lot of people
living here,

And there's not
a lot of output.

We need to change gears.

Let's focus on something that
brings in money, brings in food.

[ Clucking ]

Narrator:
the raneys have just eight days

With a small build team

To save the smith homestead.

Matt will restore and extend
the knife shop,

Giving jerry more space to work

And produce an income
alongside son parker.

Misty will build
a new predator-proof coop

To revive debbie's
poultry business,

But for marty to secure
the smith family legacy,

He must protect kasee
and dustin's cabin

From the massive storm
and severe flooding

Due to sweep through
the homestead in just five days.

♪♪

We got homesteaders directly,
I mean directly,

In the path of floodwaters.

The only thing worse
than one cabin in the flood zone

Is two cabins,

And that's what
that young couple plans

On doing this summer.

I mean, if they're into
moving cabins,

Why don't we convince them

To move their cabins
to high ground instead?

Flooding here is insane,

And if you are in a flood zone,

You will lose everything.

Why put yourself at risk?

That is a big sell.

♪♪

I got an idea.

Okay, so the best way for me
to get my head

Wrapped around
a 33-acre piece of land

Is to draw it out
here on the grass.

Dustin and kasee were explaining
to me where their house is.

That area is a flood zone,
so I thought about,

"You know how I could help
these guys?

Could move that building
and put them together."

We don't want to pick up
and move.

We've witnessed missouri when
mother nature was in a bad mood.

You got 33 acres here.

That cabin down there,
it ain't going nowhere.

If I don't move this building,
I'm leaving you worse off.

It ain't getting touched.

-Hold on.
-Mm. Mm, mm, mm.

Guys, we just want to...

No, man. Not now.

This has never happened
on a homestead before.

When we said,
"hey, let's do this.

It's a good idea,"

And the homesteader said,
"no," and now what?

♪♪

Narrator: coming up, the raneys
strive for common ground.

We have to come to a plan,
and it has to happen right now.

Narrator:
but the incoming storm...

There it is.

Narrator: ...threatens to
derail their plans.

That volume of water
is gonna wreak havoc.

♪♪

Narrator: in the ozark mountains
of missouri,

The raneys have been
called to rescue

The smith family homestead.

Their knife shop income
has been cut to zero

And their livestock
slaughtered by predators.

[ Thunder crashes ]

But worst of all, one cabin is
in the direct path

Of deadly flash flooding...

Debbie: wow.

Narrator:
...and a storm is on the way.

Water actually goes
underneath this house?

-Yes.
-Mm-hmm.

Narrator: marty's plan to move

Kasee and dustin
out of the flood zone...

It ain't going nowhere.

Narrator: ...has been
totally rejected...

...leaving both families
at a stalemate.

Dustin: that's kind of where
it was a shocker to me.

He come out and said, you know,
"hey, we want to just pick

Everything up that
you've done in five years."

It's my home.

I built it.

♪♪

Narrator: the next morning, with
a storm due in just four days,

The raneys return
to salvage the rescue.

Marty:
it's a brand-new morning.

I want it to be kind of
a brand-new day.

That's how I feel like
in my heart of hearts.

We have to come to some
sort of decision,

And we have to come to a plan,
and it has to happen right now.

You know, basically what we
decided last night as a family

Is we're too planted
where we're at.

We don't want to move
anything as far

As cabins to other places.

If you're in a flood zone,
that should be addressed.

It's staying there.

Okay.

I've not heard one thing
yet that says, "hey, raneys,

Help us with
our homesteading dream."

I haven't heard
one project yet.

I haven't ruled out you
helping me with my knife shop.

You know, we could
finish that up.

The knife shop, it sounds
like a starting point.

How do you guys feel about
a separate new building

Along the side
of this building

Specifically for
your storage items?

We can resurrect the knife shop,
and income can resume.

-That would be great.
-You like the sound of that?

That would be -- yeah.

Marty: finally, they've
actually agreed to a plan.

-Oh, yeah.
-Yeah.

But anybody that ever watches
this show knows one thing.

It's not called
"knife shop rescue."

This flooding is gonna
bite them in the rear.

There's a lot more
we can do here.

♪♪

Matt: all right.
Guys, follow me.

So the first thing we need to do
is take off this metal.

Narrator: matt plans to extend
the knife shop

By creating a new room clad
in sheet metal.

It will store
the family heirlooms,

Freeing the rest of the interior
for jerry's dual-space workshop,

A ventilated dirty room
for his blade-grinding machines

That create dust
and a clean room for tempering

And finishing the knives.

♪♪

So hold this tape just to
that joist right there.

And then it's gonna come out
eight feet out to here.

The only thing that's standing
in our way right now

Is this tree.

We need to get this down.

Narrator:
matt wants to know exactly

Where the tree will land.

An old alaskan cowboy
taught me this trick.

Find something that's about
as long as your arm

And get it right into here
where your armpit is.

Mm-hmm.

Now my arm and the broom
are the same length.

Keep me straight.

How straight am i?

-Come down a little bit.
-Okay.

When the top of the tree lines

Up with the top
of the broom and my eye...

Okay, I'll make a mark
right here.

The top of the tree will come
down within four feet of here.

If I got past it,
you can call, you know,

Hooey on the whole thing.

All right?

♪♪

How'd we do?

About right on the money.

Pretty darn close.

Narrator:
with the tree out of the way,

It's full steam ahead

To build the frame
for the extension.

Get it as close as you can.

-Good job.
-Watch your fingers.

Let's get this floor
screwed down.

And you know,
it's going great.

We already got our floor.

Feels good,
we're getting stuff done.

♪♪

Narrator:
behind the knife shop...

Misty: what is all of this?

Narrator:
...misty identifies another

Of debbie's storage areas

That could be used
to generate income.

There's this polytunnel
that is perfectly sound.

We can turn it
into a livestock pen

And boom,
a self-sustaining moneymaker.

This is leftover stuff
that would not fit in the shop.

So you have some antiques,

And you have a lot
of family history

That obviously has
a lot of value.

So I'm gonna propose
something to you.

We'll get this thing empty.

We can turn this polytunnel
into a livestock pen.

I don't know.

Food, opportunity
to make money...

-Can we take a break?
-No, come here. Come here.

I don't want this on camera.
We need to take a break.

James, give us a second.
Give us a second.

♪♪

What's wrong?

I'm not saying to give away
your family heirlooms.

I want to bring this homestead
to your dreams.

Everything has a story
behind it,

And it's hard to let stuff go.

With this family in particular,

It's gonna be
one inch at a time.

Let's start a trash pile,
a giveaway pile,

And a keep pile out of both
of these storage units.

Okay.

I did get really emotional with
everything that was going on.

She hugged it out.

We talked it out,
and things are wonderful,

And I'm really excited
to keep going.

Narrator: once clear of debbie's
family keepsakes,

Misty will cover the polytunnel
in predator-proof chicken wire.

Using reclaimed materials
from around the homestead,

She'll construct
a large henhouse,

Raising it on stilts
for further protection.

♪♪

With the polytunnel now empty,

Daughter kasee has a neat hack
for securing chicken wire.

♪♪

Dad taught me this,
take a little nail

With a big head on it
and put it in between these two,

And then just
twist them together.

Misty: I love it.

Once you get it,
you can just slide it out.

-I love it.
-And it's tied together.

That's gonna go quick.

Your dad's gonna
to be so proud.

Since I've arrived here,

Debbie has talked about,
you know,

"This is all for the kids,"
and she talks about her legacy.

You could literally not have
a better person than kasee

To pass this homestead to.

What are your guys'
big dreams here?

Hopefully have a family one day
that we can share it with.

Yeah? Ooh.

-That's a big plan.
-Yeah.

So your plan is to move a cabin
over to your cabin --

-Yeah, to our cabin.
-...and just connect them?

And connect them because then
we would double in size.

-Okay. Wow.
-Exactly. Yeah.

Wow.

It seems like kasee and dustin

Want to leave their house
exactly where it lies.

They don't care if it's
in the flood zone,

And that's up to them,

But when they mentioned
that they want to have kids

And bring a family here
in a very rainy place

Known for flooding, you know,
honestly, that worries me.

Narrator:
with a storm due in four days,

Misty isn't the only raney
harboring grave concerns.

Clearly, I got off to the wrong
start on this homestead.

How do I deal with it?

Work with these people

And find out
what they want to do.

Narrator: marty asks to see
the other cabin kasee and dustin

Plan on moving
into the flood zone.

That's a nice-looking cabin.

Thank you.

For marty to take our concerns
seriously is a relief.

I mean, he understands
what we're going through,

And I think he would be
willing to help.

Plan is to take this building

And attach it
to the back of our house.

-Make it bigger --
-yes.

...for kids and a family
in the future?

Yes.

What is your fix for the water
problem over at the other cabin?

I think a pond is
a pretty good idea.

You contain all that water
with an earth dam,

And that thing breaches,

Then you have that water
racing through

Not only that house
but maybe this one.

-It could --
-it will.

...if it's not built properly.

Kasee and dustin deserve
a safe place to live.

If they choose to stay
in that cabin,

I need to build a dam
and make their home safer.

Have I ever built a dam
to protect a cabin ever?

No.

Narrator: coming up, matt cuts
to the chase...

Let there be light.

Narrator: ...and marty takes
a huge gamble.

You have that breach,
it all comes down at once.

If I don't do
that dam perfectly,

The whole thing will fail,

And I've made
the situation worse.

Narrator:
in the stormy missouri ozarks,

The raneys are attempting

To save a family threatened
by deadly storms,

Their homesteading legacy
on the brink.

If the kids leave the homestead,

Jerry and I
just couldn't continue.

Narrator:
matt is extending the workshop

To revive the family
knife business,

And misty is building
a predator-proof chicken coop

To give debbie an income.

Let's focus on this polytunnel,

Turn it into
a self-sustaining moneymaker.

Narrator:
but kasee and dustin refuse

To move out of the flood zone.

-How deep was it?
-To our -- yeah.

About to here.

Narrator: their fix is for marty
to build a dam

Directly above their cabin.

That thing breaches,

Then you have that water
racing through

Not only that house
but maybe this one.

♪♪

Narrator: the predicted storm is
now due in just three days,

So marty calls dam expert
matt hobson

To assess kasee
and dustin's plan.

You can definitely see a wash
down through here

Where the water is moving,
where it's coming down.

In your experience, have you
ever seen anybody build

The dam directly above their
house to hold back floodwaters?

Not typically, no.

They've held that water
back up there,

And then you have
that breach of that dam.

It all comes down at once.

Yeah, okay.

So what's your advice for me?

You would be looking at
some sort of arc-shaped dam --

Yeah.

...and it'll hold
a massive amount of water

Back towards this
hillside here,

So as that comes down,
we're gonna stop all that

Before it gets to the house
and slow it down

And let it out of this pond
through the spillway slowly.

I like it.

What's the worst-case
scenario here?

The worst-case scenario is that
we don't have the clay,

And we can't build the pond.

There's a huge unknown if this
is gonna work or not based on

If we find clay or not.
-Absolutely.

I mean, clay is going
to be the key.

Copy.

Narrator: marty must dig a dam


Spillways will be needed
to channel excess rain water

Around kasee and dustin's cabin,
but for the dam to hold water,

Marty must find enough clay
to spread over the entire basin

And compact it
to make it watertight

And all before
the huge storm hits.

[ Beeping ]
-i hear beeping.

Holy crap.

-Dad!
-[ Laughs ]

Narrator: equipped with a 29-ton
excavator,

Marty is ready to start work,

But first he has
a solemn warning.

I did spend a couple hours
here today with a expert.

He said
he would never guarantee

That the dam will hold
in a hundred-year storm.

I will look you right in the eye
and say I've never built a dam

Like this in my life,
but I'm not afraid of it.

But if we don't find clay,

This thing could actually
be a failure

And do some serious damage.

You guys want me to build a dam
and move that other cabin,

And I'll do it.

Are you in or out?

Yeah, I think it's a go.

♪♪

Ready for this?

Narrator: first, marty must
clear over an acre

Of dense forest.

He just snapped that tree
in half like it was a toothpick.

Narrator: but decimating
the natural flood barrier

Makes kasee and dustin's cabin
even more vulnerable

Should the predicted storm
arrive now.

Kasee: if a hundred-year
flood comes,

We'd be in a worse position.

It is a risk worth taking.

Now that we've cleared
these trees out of here,

You can see clearly
what's going on.

All of this floods and drains
right down through here,

Right to that homestead.

What we've done right now
is probably made it worse,

So we need to get this dam
in here before the next storm.

♪♪

Narrator:
over at the knife shop,

Corrugated tin completes
the extension's exterior.

All right, yeah.

Look at this.

It looks awesome.

-You like it?
-I like it.

And we've literally built
a whole new storage area,

And we've expanded his shop
area, you know, by double,

And I think the best thing
about this is,

Is I can totally see
that jerry is excited, too.

Jerry:
I feel stress lifting.

I can actually see a light
at the end of the tunnel now.

Narrator:
the smiths now have space

To store the family heirlooms,

Allowing matt to plan
jerry's dream knife shop.

♪♪

Some of the equipment
produces a lot of dust.

And some of the equipment
doesn't like the dust,

So they need to be separated.

All these machines
are gonna be happy

Once we get them
all separated.

Narrator: matt will knock
through the interior wall

To the old storage area,
creating two connecting rooms.

So we'll have the door there.

Narrator:
jerry's current workshop

Will become a clean room
for finishing knives.

All right.
Let's go to the other side.

Narrator:
and the repurposed storage area

Will become a dirty room
housing his heavy-duty machines.

Drumroll. Boom.

It's, like,
tripled in size already.

All right.
This is the dirty room.

This is what I'm thinking, too.

We need to some kind
of ventilation in here.

If you have a window,
it gives you light.

Some air would be great
in here.

All right.
Let there be light.

♪♪

[ Laughs ] whoo!

You feel the temperature drop
just instantly.

Narrator: matt upcycles a window
he found on the homestead.

♪♪

This is a lot more light
than we had.

This is awesome.

I'm gonna sheet the whole
inside of this thing,

And we're gonna be really
close to knife-making time.

I'm ready.

I'm looking forward
to getting going.

I need to get back to a point

Where I can make knives
all year long.

♪♪

Narrator:
over at the dam build,

Marty has dug
an eight-foot hole,

But before the next storm
hits in three days,

He must seal it
by striking clay.

Marty: in alaska, they say gold
is where you find it,

And I guess in missouri,
clay is where you find it.

We got to have the clay
to make the pond.

Only time will tell.

We got to get down below this
topsoil to see what we have.

Marty:
that doesn't look very good.

No clay over here.

Guy said if we didn't find clay,
this thing wasn't gonna work.

Jeez. Not happy.

Crap.

Narrator: coming up,
jerry's knife shop

Gets a final acid test.

We need to turn this
from new to rusted.

All right.
Move out of there, jerry.

Don't breathe that in.

Narrator: and it's do-or-die
time in marty's hunt for clay.

-Buddy!
-Is that clay?

Narrator:
deep in missouri's wilderness,

The raneys are on a mission

To rescue a drowning homestead

Tormented by storms.

The flooding --
it is really, really scary.

Narrator:
with livestock in danger

And a neglected knife business,

Their homesteading heritage
is at stake.

If the kids leave, my homestead
legacy ends with it.

Narrator:
marty has agreed to move a cabin

For married couple
kasee and dustin.

I'll do it.
Are you in or out?

Yeah, I think it's a go.

Narrator:
first, he must build a dam

To protect them from floods.

No clay over here!

Narrator: but if he doesn't
strike clay soon,

The entire homestead could be
washed out in the next storm

Due in just two days time.

♪♪

At the knife shop,
matt and jerry make a front door

From a sheet of tin.

This stuff looks brand-new.

That stuff looks old,

So let's try and turn this
from brand-new to rusted.

That's going to match
everything else.

The one way I know is
with muriatic acid.

This is for cleaning,
but not diluted,

It can also eat away
at different things,

So just to test it,

Maybe we'll just dump it
on an area,

And then see what it does.

Oh, we are getting
the sizzle effect.

All right.
Move out of there, jerry.

Don't breathe that in.

You can burn your lung.

See it bubbling up?

Yeah, I see it. It's...

It's going quick.

If you get it on your skin,
you know,


It starts to itch.

We might have to throw a couple
more things at it

Before we get
that finished product.

It's funny just
destroying something

To make it more beautiful.

-Yeah.
-All right.

I mean, let's just let it sit,
maybe go about our business

And just kind of see
where it goes.

♪♪

[ Chittering ]

[ Clucking ]

Okay, girls.

Narrator:
over at the polytunnel,

Misty is with debbie
and daughter kasee.

Having repurposed
and predator-proofed

The coop with chicken wire,

Misty plans to give
the birds extra protection

By raising the large
henhouse up on stilts.

What I'm thinking is
an eight-foot,

Four-foot chicken shelter.

It is so neat.

This is a pretty
big chicken run.

Yes, ma'am.

Let's try and make their shelter
pretty big, too.

Okay.

It's gonna have a little curve.
We'll have to match this.

-Okay.
-It'll be a little tricky,

But it'll be amazing
when it's all done.

So let's go try and look

And salvage
whatever wood we can.

♪♪

This looks good.

Instead of all of these items
wasting away

In the storage shed, use it now
while it's still functional.

♪♪

-Sweet.
-This is our foundation.

We'll just build this structure
to fit this curve.

Right.

I'm just kind of piecing
this puzzle together

With all of debbie's
storage items.

-Can we use these?
-Yes.

Okay.
So there's our door.

Yes!

So let's get this door hung.

I'm starting to really
like this project.

Everything's already built.

-What you think?
-Looking so good, misty.

It looks good, right?

Oh, I'm so excited.

I had so many stuff
laying around that I knew,

In time, would have
a place and a purpose

And just didn't imagine
it would be this,

And it's better
than I ever imagined

I could use it as.

Okay, we're doing good.

Narrator: the wind picks up.

The storm gets closer.

Marty still hasn't found
the elusive clay.

That doesn't look very good.

I'm kind of concerned.

I'm not seeing a lot of clay.

Buddy! Buddy!

Is that clay?

I can see a color change.

Yep, this is clay.

Yee-haw!

Yeah, look at that!

-That's gold, buddy!
-We're in good shape.

For a minute there, I thought
all we was going

To be able to do
was plant a garden.

I thought maybe a pond might
be out of the issue here,

But that's a good sign.

No, that's amazing.

-Yeah.
-It's red.

Yep.

Gold, the mother load
right there! [ Laughs ]

You see it? See it?

This thing might just work.

That right there
is worth three days

Of standing around
with my finger up my...

[ Beeping ]

It's a family show!

Oh, yeah. [ Laughs ]

Thank goodness we did find clay,
but the challenges for us

On this homestead
are still immense.

Should the dam break,
it would be catastrophic.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up, it's a race
to the finish...

And we've more than doubled
the workspace that you guys had.

Narrator: ...before mother
nature bites back.

-There it is.
-Jeez.

-Be careful!
-Everybody stay in here.

Is the half-built dam adequate
to protect this homestead?

I guess I'm about to find out.

[ Thunder crashes ]

Narrator: in the unforgiving
ozarks of missouri,

The raneys are racing
to save a family legacy

From being washed away.

Debbie: jeez.

Narrator: the smiths are
tormented by k*ller storms...

Debbie: mother nature,
she's a beast.

Our world as we know
it could end.

Narrator: ...and have no source
of food or income.

It's been a year
since I made a knife.

Narrator: to bring in the bucks,
matt is reviving

And extending jerry's
knife business.

This is where the legendary
knives are gonna be made.

Narrator: and misty is building
a predator-proof chicken coop

To provide food
and extra income.

You will have food,
and you'll have zero loss.

Narrator:
marty finally found clay...

Yeah, look at that!

Narrator:
...and is building a dam

To protect kasee
and dustin's cabin,

But a storm is imminent,
and he's running out of time.

Marty: the forecast is
five days of rain.

♪♪

Narrator:
now at the knife shop,

Matt adds the final touch
to the building's cladding.

So check this out.

We aged this with muriatic acid
so it looks like

It's just as old as this old
barn tin, looks really cool.

Narrator:
the last piece of treated metal

Becomes a weatherproof door

So the smiths can make
knives all year-round.

All right. It's done.

It looks good.

Narrator:
when the raneys arrived,

Jerry's knife shop was cramped
and abandoned,

Packed with family heirlooms.

Now, for just $500 in materials,

Jerry has a new extension
to store the family's belongings

And two rooms to create
and craft custom knives.

♪♪

Jerry can now start to earn
around 4,000 bucks a month.

We've more than doubled
the workspace

That you guys had
when I showed up.

I think it's great.

We can do what we need
to do now.

Narrator: the revived knife shop
could even help

Keep the smith
homesteading legacy

Alive with son parker
joining the business.

I'm pretty excited to get
in here and get after it,

You know, produce something
with my hands

That I could actually
make a living off of.

I could literally name
several father-and-son

Knife-making teams.

It's just the american dream.

You think you could show me
how to make a knife?

Sure.
Sure, we can do that.

All right.

♪♪

Narrator: at the dam site, marty
begins the next crucial job

To protect the homestead
from flooding.

Red clay.

The thing about clay, it's,
like, really small particles,

Which means it can compact,

So if we can get
this clay dispersed

And packed in
with that 25-ton excavator,

Track in this clay
like the bottom

Of a swimming pool
nice and tight,

This should fill up with water
and stay here for eternity.

Narrator: the search for clay
put the project back by days.

Now the race is on
to compact and seal

The entire 50-foot-wide basin,
but it could all be too late.

♪♪

[ Thunder crashes ]

-Hey, matt?
-Yeah?

-I checked the radar --
-mm-hmm.

...and there's storms brewing
in texas headed this way.

Can we get everybody together?

Oh, man.

Narrator: the dam still
isn't ready to protect

This flood-ravaged homestead,

But marty has run out of time.

Last time I was in missouri,
I was defeated by the floods,

And now a big storm
is coming.

[ Thunder crashes ]

Where that bad patch was
over here, now it's over here.

I mean, it could literally
be nothing,

But then it could,
in a blink of an eye, develop.

♪♪

We got hail coming down!

I just stuck my hand out.

-Look at it.
-Be careful!

Man: everybody stay in, please.
Everybody, everybody.

Narrator: debbie and jerry
check the latest update.

Now watch what it does.

See it? Watch it.

There it is. See it?

It's winds going both ways,
so it'll start spinning.

The air is cool up here.

It's warm down here.

Those two clash,

That's what causes it.

We lived in tornado alley
our whole lives.

Mm-hmm.

It's nothing to play
around with.

Could it be nothing? Sure.

Could it be something?

You bet your life.

Marty:
is the half-built dam adequate

To protect this homestead?

I guess I'm about to find out.

[ Thunder crashes ]