Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York
A volcano beneath New York City seems unlikely, yet nothing else can explain the bizarre tremors and terrifying explosions wreaking havoc on the city. Tunnel digger Matt MacLachlan (Costas Mandylor), head of the team of "Sandhogs", has witnessed lava seeping into the city's aqueduct system and knows the unimaginable truth. A group of tramps trying to keep warm in Central Park near a heat vent all die from carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide poisoning. A boat in the harbour is caught in a venting and explodes. The FBI Terror Task Force begins to look for the imagined terrorists who killed the tramps and blew up the boat.
Matt is taken off of the sandhogs as some of his men were badly injured, which prompts an investigation. Pipes which were supposed to carry water are filled with steaming acid because of the volcano. He reunites with his former wife Susan, who has been sent to interview him on what happened, and convinces her that there is something seriously wrong in tunnel number three. Together they sneak down into the tunnels, which have been sealed off, and she sees enough to believe him.
Doctor Andrew Levering (Michael Ironside) has been conducting a geo-thermal energy experiment, which has triggered the volcanic activity as his project drills down seven miles into the earth in a secret location hidden in a warehouse in downtown New York. Neil Kavanagh and other people are financing this project, but since there have been no results they are ready to pull the funding, forcing Andrew to take more chances to produce instant results.
Matt and Susan go to the Mayor, only to find out that Susan's her boss Jacob Reed lets her down. Neil, who is there also, manages to make the idea of a volcano look impossible so the Mayor dismisses them. Shortly afterwards, a home owner opens the door to his house, only to be buried alive and instantly killed by a stream of molten lava. The whole block of houses goes up in flames, with 72 people missing, all of whom are presumed dead, and the Mayor begins to wonder, while Agent Walters of the FBI's Terror Task Force is given leave to do whatever he has to do.
Using a handheld thermal detector, Matt and Susan drive around the suspect area and find unnatural heat coming from a warehouse. They enter, but Matt is recognised by Andrew, who then binds them as prisoners. In an effort to produce results, Andrew, by this point, acting in desperation, goes too far and the workers start to desert as flames leap from the drill hole. He tries to seal it but is badly burned by the flames. Meanwhile, Matt and Susan manage to escape as the unleashed lava causes the warehouse to explode. The effects of Andrew's latest efforts are seen on the streets of New York as lava spouts out of manholes and buildings catch fire, killing thousands and causing untold damage.
The Mayor sees what is happening from his office and Neil reluctantly admits his part. He decides on an evacuation of the city. But all is not lost, as Matt has an idea which he tells his work crew his idea. He tells them that an explosion in the right place will divert the lava along the city's aqueduct tunnels and into the nearby sea. The race is then on to do it in time, but Andrew, who survived his burns, but was horribly disfigured, and is now stalking the streets of the city with a gun, learns of their plans via a television broadcast that also announces over 1,000 counts of murder to be handed down against him. The deranged doctor follows the team into the tunnels and faces Matt and Susan as they attempt to set the charges necessary to open the tunnels. Delusively believing that his project is still viable, Andrew shoots Matt, but one of his shots goes astray and destabilizes the wall, releasing steam that blinds him. Matt and Susan escape from the tunnels just in time to avoid the lava flow, while Andrew is killed in the eruption. Their plan works and the city is saved.
violence