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It isn't really a wave - it is the splash of a wave as it hit the probably 20-20 foot high cliff and the perspective really exaggerates it.
Carey is right - in that it is similar to what happens at McKenzie.
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Agreed, Leilanidude, just wanted to point out that it's not storm surge just so people don't get the wrong idea.
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About the same time this photo was taken, I watched the waves crash on Kaloli Point . They struck 20 foot cliffs, and the water sprayed twice as high as some of the two story houses, so that's about 60 feet. I'd say this photo is authentic, not to mention pretty spectacular.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Oh, I agree. Thanks Carey, fantastic picture!
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I do not normally share images that are not mine, but I think this tells a story way more than any words! & I am glad SOMEONE ELSE took it!
(BTW - the owners of the house in the image have written that the waves were much higher later in the evening... gotta say, I know I wouldn't have stuck around to find out...so hats off to those that did, and took the amazing image!)
(right about this time is when I decided that the Evac. Center was the way to ride out this storm...so I was snug as a bug during the worst (we even have ample elect. plugins & WIFI up & running most of the night & my cell phone was receiving images of the storm all night, along with staying in communication with my DH who had to spend all of Thurs. & Friday at work on storm disaster watch...
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Carey - if I saw waves like that near my place I can tell you I wouldn't have stayed around for very long. Fortunately I'm a few hundred yards back from the cliffs on Kaloli, but the east and north facing windows the morning after the storm were full of spray and crap. A quarter of a mile back and I was getting some of the surf, can't imagine what it was like for people right on the cliffs...
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Thanks for sharing the dramatic picture Carey, it is amazing and humbling. Also thanks TomK for the clear description of the differences in surge vs wind driven waves.
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quote:
Originally posted by TomK
Agreed, Leilanidude, just wanted to point out that it's not storm surge just so people don't get the wrong idea.
My point was that the picture was chosen to give the impression that raging waves higher than houses were representative of the situation. It is a natural human tendency and a cool picture, but it does not accurately depict the situation.
Also other pictures that are much less dramatic have subtle clues. I do think that a house built only a few feet above sea level should have been tied down so that it wouldn't just casually float away intact. Granted it would have been damaged anyway but proper construction would at least have made it less likely to float over and take out the neighbor's house. Of course we'll never know but it really does appear to me that if such a house had been built on poured concrete piers 8' high it would have survived given that as it is most of the house did survive despite being pushed off the foundation.
I am pondering human perceptions. In the video I watched the owner and reporter seemed more impressed with the severity of the damage and by extension the strength of the storm because the whole house had been moved than they would if the house had been unrecognizable. To me it just means that there was a particular weakness.
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IMO zoom lens, and the fact that its not the wave you see, its the normal and sometimes impressive upward splash after the wave hits the face of sheer cliff... makes it seem bigger than it really was....
optical illusion!
ie exactly like that (zoom distorted) well known huge wave (real wave, not a splash) pic from Kaena Pt. Oahu in 1969 storm...
http://www.surf-art.com/art/greg/images/Kaena.jpg
distorted by the extreme zoom lens IMO.
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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Menehuni (spl?) on punaweb lives just 65' off the bluff between Maku'u and Paradise.... They road it out and glad it was them and not me!