COVERING his head with his arms, Josh Morgerman dodges debris from buildings, cars and trees as they come flying towards him.

Blood drains from his face as he realises there's a chance he could be decapitated in this storm – despite travelling nearly 3,000 miles to chase it.

It might sound like a bizarre hobby, but adrenaline junkie Josh, 49, has spent his whole life chasing the world's worst storms, an addiction that's intensified since he was a child.

"I grew up on a hurricane-prone island off the East Coast of the USA and even when I was a toddler, I’d just go nutty when a hurricane would strike," Josh explains.

"When you’re in the ring of fire of a really bad hurricane, it is frightening. It’s violent, it’s ugly, but to me there is some kind of weird beauty in it.”

Josh has been on the ground in more hurricanes than any human in history, risking his life as he penetrates deep inside the eye of the storm to collect valuable data that will help scientists to understand what happened and why.

There is a broad consensus from the scientific community that climate change is affecting the weather – causing widescale pattern changes and greater extremes.

A new study predicts that as global warming increases over the next 50 to 100 years, at least two more hurricanes will form annually and they will be far more intense than ever before.

In a brand new UKTV Original series, Hurricane Man, Josh and a team of British documentary filmmakers, go to the very heart of 2018’s biggest storms to discover if these natural disasters are getting worse.

Flying debris can take your head off in a second

The first storm they chase is Hurricane Michael, the strongest hurricane to ever threaten the region, bringing with it wind speeds of 155mph and unleashing more energy than a nuclear bomb, in the coastal city of Panama, Florida.

Nearly 40,000 people are abandoning their homes as their treasured belongings are left to feel the wrath of an unforgiving hurricane predicted to reach an intensity so high it could obliterate the town completely.

Predicted to flatten buildings and bring down thousands of trees, the film crew, who have never experienced a storm of this magnitude, must follow strict precautions.

Briefing in the team, who wait with bated breath, Josh warns them of the dangers: “I cannot stress this enough that when the inner core arrives, you cannot be outside. If you can’t find the eye wall, I consider this life or death.

“There is going to be flying debris, stuff that can take your head off in a second, you won’t even know it’s hit you, you’d be dead.”

Fisherman prepare to take on a 12ft wall of water

The wind rattles through the windows at a deserted hotel as Josh and the team relentlessly refresh internet browsers for updates on the storm's path – which is now heading directly towards them.

Despite evacuation orders, many fishermen and their families decide to stay put and face the 12ft wall of water predicted to hit the harbour head on.

Stephen Brookins is one of them, determined to protect the family’s fishing boat with his wife and granddad.

The fishing boat is worth over £150,000 and has been their only source of income for many generations, but surprisingly, it's not insured against hurricanes.

Back at home, dried rations provide light comfort as they prepare other essentials including torches, candles and fill the bath tub as this could be their only source of water.

Trapped miles from safety

With just hours before Hurricane Michael is due to hit, they risk it all as they drive down roads already scenes of disaster, littered with debris and fallen trees, to check on the boat.

Just minutes into their journey, the magnitude of the destruction starts to show as they discover every road is blocked by fallen trees.

Despite living through many hurricanes in his life, Stephen starts to worry about the safety of him and the team as they come to the realisation they are trapped miles from safety.

“Are we going to die in this damn truck? Every route is blocked,” he says.

With winds increasing by the minute, the county is forced to suspend their operations meaning that everybody left behind is now completely alone with no help at hand.

The main firestation has been built to withstand winds of 150mph, but it’s never been put to the test.

Firefighters, who locals are relying on, are forced to stay grounded, unable to help as the worst disaster the Panama’s history spirals into town.

The sound will hurt your ears

Meanwhile, Josh, in hot pursuit of the storm, must change hotel at the last minute in an attempt to collect data.

Josh's goal is to reach the eye of the hurricane to experience the calm, quiet centre, but this is surrounded by the worst part of the storm – the inner ring of violent winds and heaviest rain.

In the car, he describes what to expect when the hurricane hits: “Trees are crashing down. The wind is going to be so strong and the rain is going to be so hard everything is going to turn white you’re going to hear a sound like a train going by.

“It’s an ungodly sound. Maybe it won’t be a roar, maybe Michael will be more like a scream, but it’s going to be a sound that will hurt your ears.”

It’s Josh’s job to test the air pressure in the eye of a hurricane to find out how strong the hurricane is.

He explains: “When I chase, I do my best to get in the eye so I can get that key pressure reading.

“That’s a dangerous mission, one that sometimes drives me to take big risks.”

Before reaching the eye, Josh has to fight through the violent inner core, a tiny ring called the eye wall, where most of the destruction happens.

Josh and the team take shelter in an old hotel building, which is collapsing around them as they film.

“This building is getting torn apart, this is scary s**t,” he says, as a section of the roof smashes into the glass windows, shattering them into deadly shards.

Within minutes, the team are confronted with calm as the sun breaks through the eye of the hurricane, leaving emergency services to pick up the pieces and repair broken lives in the place they called home.

A total of 35 people were officially confirmed to have been killed by the hurricane in Florida, with hundreds still unaccounted for.

By January 11, 2019, the death toll in Florida had increased to 47.

The new series of Hurricane Man UKTV Original starts on Sunday 24^th March, 7pm, on Dave.

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