In mid January, a series of “weather-driven” rogue waves smashed into the island of Roi-Namur, destroying parts of a U.S. Army base there and wreaking havoc on the Pacific outpost. Roi-Namur is in the northern part of the Marshall Islands in an area known as Kwajalein Atoll. Some 80 individuals were evacuated as the waves flooded nearly a third of the island, pounding the piece of land for most of the night.
The video above was taken by Erik D. Hanson, a scuba diver and dive instructor on the island. The water violently flooded the Outrigger Bar and Restaurant. At the outset of the video, two people are thrown through the doors as the waves inundated the building, but apparently, there were no injuries.
“Now that I’ve heard everyone from this event is okay I’m finally posting the video,” wrote Hanson. “Roi-Namur island was hit hard by several huge waves Saturday night. It was NOT a tsunami as many other sites that stole my video are saying. No other islands were affected. It was a combination of wind, tides and swell direction. It also was right after low tide at a 1.2 feet, so could have been worse. Very very thankful no one was seriously injured. Thank you to all friends and family who reached out.”
The U.S. began occupying the Marshall Islands in 1944 after two separate invasions during World War II helped the Americans secure the chain from the Japanese, which had occupied the region since the first World War. The U.S. has kept a military presence there ever since.
The surf in the Marshall Islands, as you may have heard, is plentiful, with a series of predominantly right-hand waves that range from rifling barrels to fun performance set ups.
The flooding on Roi-Namur is easily one of the most devastating disasters there since the war.
“This is going to go down in (Kwajalein Atoll’s) history books as one of its most challenging times ever,” Col. Drew Morgan, the installation’s commander, said in a Jan. 21 Facebook post. “We will get through this, and we are settling in for a marathon of recovery ahead. It may last months or even years.”
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