Image of Iselle Storm Surge( Wave Splash )

[Carey]

This is an image of the storm surge (wave splash is more accurate, see the postings below & Thanx LD & Tom for a mo`betta description)hitting Opihikao on early evening as Hurricane Iselle approached Hawaii Island:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4tm3dk1d606dih...4.jpg?dl=0

Add: image taken by neighbor of Gary & Ed

[kander]

Wow, that is a great picture.

[freespirit]

Wow unreal - that is a great photo. Sad what the outcome of the surge was though but the photo does have a wow factor in itself.

[shave_ice]

Holy crap! I was not expecting that. Looks like that house is about to be devoured. I hope it wasn't.

[MarkP]

What time was it taken? It's still light. When did the storm hit?

[Carey]

The image was taken at dusk (so probably somewhere around 7pm) and the actual decomposing eye wall made contact around 11pm. The house in the picture is still there (I think undamaged, there are many here that know the property well), and the property had some (mostly tree) damage, I saw some of it along Red Road.

[Andrew]

Wowser

[MarkP]

Not saying that I believe it is fake but perhaps it is due to perspective. I just watched a video that said the damage was primarily caused by the storm surge of 5' above high tide. The picture depicts a raging wave higher than the house. The damage shown in videos, while bad, could not have been caused by waves like the one pictured or there would be nothing left.

I know I will catch flak for this but one house was moved pretty much intact off of its foundation. Clearly the foundation and attachment thereto was a weak spot. I saw many crumbling CMU walls with no evidence of steel reinforcement. One homeowner who "rode out the storm" was quoted as saying that he never dreamed he'd wake up to the damage he found in the morning. So, he chose to stay home and he slept through the storm.... One house was heavily damaged except for a sliding glass door....

I guess I am saying that a lot of the damage was due to houses not being built in anticipation of the types of damage they could reasonably have been expected to face.

[Carey]

It is perspective, as the image was taken on a lot that is across the street & above the house, but it is clearing the cliff point in front of the house (the property has a point & bay that does funnel ocean energy allowing for higher wave crashes, much like a smaller scale of the cliff clearing coves in MacKenzie Park) and water did go house high

[TomK]

MarkP - I don't think the picture is fake, the noise levels look pretty consistent across the image. However, it should be pointed out that's not storm surge, but instead a large wave from the storm. Storm surge is the general rising of the water level caused by the low air pressure in a cyclone, so it's a bit like a rapidly rising tide. The waves caused by the winds, which is shown in this picture, are not storm surge. The storm surge, will, however, mean that the wind-driven waves will impact the shoreline more dramatically just because the general water level is higher and might water might ingress further onshore than normal.