15 LARGE Waves and Swells

natural disasters can strike at any time and can be so powerful that there's very little that people in their path can do tidal waves in particular can be devastating and can cause destruction and loss of life over vast areas in this video we're taking a look at the 15 largest tidal waves number 15 the vajant dam the vajant dam is in northern italy and at 860 feet tall is one of the highest dams in the world it was built 62 miles north of venice between 1957 and 1960 to provide electricity to the surrounding area but when you see images of the structure you'll notice there's something missing the reservoir behind it that's because it's no longer in use as a result of a tragedy that took place in october of 1963 while filling the dam a landslide was initiated which triggered a mega tsunami in the lake the wave that was formed was 820 feet high well over the top of the dam and cascaded down the other side even though the dam itself remained structurally intact the water destroyed several villages further down the valley and killed an estimated 1900 people there had been warnings prior to the tragedy that something like this could happen but authorities weren't willing to listen because resolving the dangers would have cost huge sums of money in the end because of their inaction one of the largest tsunamis in recent times was created and the destruction it caused meant that they had no choice but to permanently close the dam so there was no risk of it ever happening again number 14 japan 2011. the great sendai earthquake took place in march of 2011 and struck the north coast of japan's main island honshu the magnitude 9 quake itself caused a huge amount of damage but it was the series of tsunamis that formed in its wake that will be forever remembered it happened as a result of movement in the subduction zone in the japan trench where a section around 190 miles long and 95 miles wide suddenly jolted 164 feet eastwards and 33 feet upwards this thrust a powerful pulse through the ocean and created a tsunami wave that was 33 feet high above the water surface it struck the coast and overwhelmed the city of sendai and according to some reports managed to keep flowing six miles inland further waves continued striking along the coast and while they caused severe destruction to every waterfront community the most devastating consequence took place when it struck the city of fukushima and more specifically the nuclear power plant there officially ten thousand people were killed by the waves but it's possible far more will live with the after effects once the resulting nuclear meltdown is taken into account it became one of the most significant nuclear events in history and one that's still being cleared up to this day number 13 greenland 2017 the frozen regions around earth often see large changes to the landscape when pieces of ice cave off into the ocean and these can sometimes be so large and weigh so much that they trigger large waves that have the potential to be incredibly destructive in june of 2017 a landslide occurred in the kharat fjord and greenland's western coast and it's believed that this created one of the largest waves in recent times it's a normally serene and stunning place but on that day things took a very different turn such huge quantities of material fell into the water that they created a mega tsunami it's estimated to have been up to 330 feet tall and it raced across the bay the residents of nugatsiak a fishing village on an island around 12 miles away had no warning that the wave was heading their way and by the time they realized it was too late eleven houses were washed away without a trace and four people lost their lives it's amazing that such a large wave caused so few casualties but that's simply because the region had occurred had very few communities if it had struck a more populated area the death toll would have been far greater so in many ways the outcome was quite fortunate researchers have since found a number of other sites in the region where a similar landslide appears to be quite likely so several villages have been permanently evacuated to avoid any loss of life in the future number 12 indonesia 2018 on september 28 2018 a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the central sulawesi providence of indonesia and while the quake itself caused a significant amount of damage it was nothing compared to the force of the tsunami that it also created with a height of between 20 and 30 feet above normal sea levels it smashed into the coast and caused widespread destruction the human cost was extreme too with 2 000 people thought to have lost their lives and a further 4 400 people who were seriously injured it's thought as many as 68 000 homes were completely destroyed and the effects of the damage displaced around one and a half million people this wasn't the only tsunami to strike the region that year though because another one was formed by volcanic activity on december 22nd this time it hit the coast of the islands of java and southern sumatra and decimated communities there with 400 fatalities despite huge sums being invested into early warning systems along the coasts of that part of the world there are so many potential ways that a tsunami can be formed that quite often there's simply not enough time to get the word out so people can take refuge while the tsunamis that develop near indonesia aren't at all the largest that the world's ever seen they hit such densely populated areas that they're certainly some of the most deadly number 11 samoa 2009. on september 29 2009 a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck in the southern pacific and was the largest quake measured worldwide that year as soon as it hit there were concerns about the potential for a tsunami and the pacific tsunami warning center issued alerts after detecting a three-inch rise in the sea levels near the epicenter while this may not sound like much it signifies that a huge amount of energy has been released into the ocean and they were right to be worried because by the time the wave hit nearby islands it had become a monster american samoa samoa and tonga were the worst affected countries when the tsunami reached the beaches of samoa it was 46 feet tall luckily there was time to evacuate most people who were in its path but not everyone was so lucky 189 people were killed by the wave most of whom were children virtually any structure built along the coast was flattened power outages were reported across the entire island with the cost of all the damage estimated to be around 150 million dollars 3 000 people were left homeless and it took several years before the country was able to recover from the damage that was caused it remains the most powerful tsunami to strike that region of the south pacific in living memory and investigations are now underway to try to learn if it's likely any more may happen sometime soon number 10 ask a volcano the ascial volcano is in the central highlands of iceland and at 4 900 feet tall is one of the biggest active volcanoes in the country next to it is the osceovatin lake which formed in a crater left by an eruption in 1875 and it's there that an almighty mega tsunami formed in july of 2014. the lake itself is the second deepest in iceland reaching a depths of up to 712 feet so when the volcano released a huge rock slide there was plenty of water for it to disrupt according to reports the swell raced more than a mile and a half across the lake to the opposite shore where it rose more than 260 feet up in the air before crashing down onto the coastline it wasn't just the size of the wave that was astonishing but also its speed it was traveling at more than 60 miles an hour when it made landfall and obliterated everything that was in its path the lake is a popular tourist destination during summer months so there had been hundreds of people there earlier in the day it was just a matter of luck that the tsunami occurred close to midnight fortunately there was no one around so no fatalities were recorded but had it happened just a few hours earlier things would have been very different [Music] number nine spirit lake washington spirit lake is just to the north of mount st helens in washington state and prior to the volcano's eruption of 1980 it was a popular tourist resort with a number of luxurious lodges around its banks on march 20th of that year though the area was subjected to an earthquake which triggered activity on the volcano just two months later another triggered an eruption this was so violent that the entire north face of the mountain collapsed in an event that's still the largest known debris avalanche to have ever taken place a large proportion of it fell directly into spirit lake and this formed one of the biggest mega tsunamis on record a series of surges traveled across the water and at times the waves were a frightening 850 feet above the normal water level the surrounding environment was completely obliterated by the two events with the tree line above the reach of the tsunami being destroyed by the pyroclastic surge of the eruption those below the water line being washed away and dragged into the lake needless to say every structure that lay in the path of the wave or the eruption was completely destroyed and a number of lives were also lost the cost of rebuilding especially with the risk of this happening again was seen as too great so the banks of the lake have remained relatively undeveloped ever since we are constantly adding more people to the top fives production team to bring you all the best content be sure to subscribe with notifications on and hit the like button number eight alaska 1964. early in the morning of march 27 1964 what has become known as the great alaskan earthquake took place across south central alaska measuring a magnitude of 9.2 and lasting for four minutes and 38 seconds 600 miles of fault line opened up at the same time and what remains the most powerful earthquake to have ever been recorded in north america it caused huge amounts of damage across the state but in many ways the worst was still to come the quake triggered a series of tsunamis one that was a direct result of the tectonic activity and as many as 20 or more that were formed by underwater landslides a 27-foot wave was responsible for destroying the village of chenega and killing 23 people while another one that was measured at 220 feet tall tore across the bay incredibly tsunamis that were formed by the quake were detected in at least 20 other countries and caused damage as far away as hawaii japan new zealand and mexico in alaska the towns of whittier seward and kodiak were severely struck by large waves and it's estimated that the resulting tsunamis more than doubled the overall cost of damage and loss of life that was caused by the earthquake in the first place number seven unzen japan 1792 tsunamis are thankfully not that common there have only been a handful of ones that are classed as mega tsunamis that have occurred in the past few centuries one of the most devastating took place in japan in 1792 and the scars of the events that year can still be seen on may 21 mount unzen was triggered by a series of earthquakes that caused it to at first erupt and subsequently partially collapse the debris almost completely destroyed the city of shimabara and kept on going until it was deposited into area bay such a large volume of material entering the water immediately triggered a huge tidal wave that at its peak was 187 feet tall to make matters worse after it had traveled across the bay it bounced off the other side and returned to strike what was left of shimabara the total death toll of the event is estimated to have been fifteen thousand people five thousand of them are thought to have died in the landslide with a further five thousand dying as the mega tsunami traveled across the bay and another five thousand succumbing to the wave when it returned and hit shimabara for a second time number six love at net lake norway lovet net lake is a mountain lake in the county of vestland in norway and is exactly the kind of stunning place that you'd expect from mountainous terrain it's fed water from the melting snow and ice on the surrounding mountains and historically has been a popular place for visitors but the things that make it such an idyllic and seemingly serene environment are also what makes it extremely dangerous the lake has in fact formed mega tsunamis on two different occasions in january of 1905 a landslide dropped 460 000 cubic yards of material into the water from a height of 1600 feet and this triggered three tsunamis that were up to 133 feet high these crossed the lake and destroyed two local villages killing 61 people which was half their population as well as destroying most houses 261 farm animals and even launching a fishing boat almost a thousand feet inland from where it had been moored following this there was concern about whether the community should rebuild but after surveying the area geologists determined that the risk was negligible everything was therefore developed once more but this wouldn't last for long in 1936 another landslide occurred that deposited 1.3 million cubic yards of material into the water from a height of 2600 feet and this created a tsunami that was 243 feet high again it destroyed all of the buildings in the area and killed 74 people and unsurprisingly to this day very few people have since decided to make this place home [Music] number five disenchantment bay disenchantment bay is a 10 10-mile stretch of water that sits between the mouth of russell fjord and the head of yakutat bay in alaska it was given its name in 1792 by a spanish explorer who entered it thinking it would lead to the northwest passage but became disenchanted when he realized that it was a dead end it's surrounded by glaciers and large sheets of ice and it's not unusual for these to break off and fall into the water but on july 4th of 1905 an unusually large piece dropped into the bay and triggered an extraordinary mega tsunami an overhanging glacier which is now referred to as the fallen glacier separated from a larger ice sheet that slid through the valley down a 1 000 foot steep slope into the bay it was so large that it cleared a half mile wide strip of vegetation as it passed through and generated a huge wave when it finally entered the water no one was there at the time but the size of the wave can be inferred by the destruction that it left behind tree branches within half a mile were broken that were 110 feet above the water's normal level vegetation three miles away was affected up to a height of 115 feet people at nearby russell fjord noticed the water levels changing by up to 20 feet for a half an hour after the tsunami was formed all of which shows just how powerful it was number four sea of mamara 1999 the sea of marmara is an inland sea within turkey that connects with both the black sea and the aegean sea as such a vital route it's long been important for trade throughout the region and there are a number of settlements along its coast it does however lie above a tectonic line called the north anatolian fault this has been particularly active in recent years things came to a peak in 1999 when the fault caused two earthquakes the first of which struck the city of ismet killed 17 000 people the magnitude 7.6 quake ruptured the fault for 93 miles part of which directly affected the sea of mamara this triggered a significant tsunami that was up to 10 feet high above the normal water level but because of the land around the lake is so flat and the unusual underwater topography of the place this was more than enough to cause serious damage the wave itself caused the deaths of 155 people and encouraged hundreds more to move away because the risk of it happening again number three indonesia 2004. the indian ocean tsunami in 2004 was in no way the most powerful or biggest tsunami of recent times but because it hit such a highly populated region it was by far the most deadly and devastating one in modern history on the morning of december 26th a huge undersea megathrust earthquake struck off the shore of indonesia and measured a magnitude of 9.3 this activity triggered a series of tsunamis one of which was reported a hundred feet tall and crashed down on coastal communities around the ocean towns and villages in indonesia sri lanka india and thailand were particularly affected with no early warning system in place the first they knew of the incoming threat was when they saw it coming there was virtually no time to escape and this is partly what contributed to such a loss of life it's thought that as many as 228 000 people lost their lives to the tsunamis and countless more were displaced studies of the wave have found that it contained the equivalent of around 5 megatons of tnt worth of energy which is more than the total use during the second world war even if you include the nuclear bombs the waves were so strong that in some places they reached more than a mile inland and traveled so far across the ocean that a five-foot swell was detected in struce by south africa which is 5000 miles away number two the krakatoa eruption krakatoa is one of the most famous volcanoes on earth thanks to the eruption that was heard around the world in 1883 that event was so powerful that it destroyed 70 percent of the island around the mountain and is one of the most destructive volcanic events ever recorded the sound of the blast was heard more than three thousand miles away and the shock wave it produced traveled around the entire planet four times the eruption was blamed for the deaths of almost 35 000 people but rather than being caught up in the pyroclastic flow a large number of these were as a result of the tsunamis that formed no one is sure how high the tsunamis reached at their peak but it's likely to have been at least a hundred feet and potentially many more times that when they travel across the open ocean they're only present as a small swell and it's only when they make landfall that their true size is seen unusually however the ones created by this eruption proved to be just as deadly at sea as they were on land boats in the water as far away as south africa were reportedly rocked violently by the waves and a number were sunk with the loss of all their crew the indonesian town of merak was completely destroyed by a wave that was estimated 150 feet high and a number of others met the same fate too smaller waves were also detected on the other side of the globe even in europe and you just have to wonder how even more catastrophic it would have been if it had happened today when there are so many more people living in coastal regions across the planet number one lituya bay alaska you probably haven't heard of lituya bay in alaska before after all it's in a remote region of the state and very few people live anywhere near it it was however the location of the biggest known tsunami in modern times and the event that took place there in 1958 forced a complete re-evaluation of our understanding of the formation of large waves it began on july 9th when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the fair weather fault this caused a landslide in which 40 million cubic yards of material which would have weighed around 90 million tons fell into the narrow inlet of the bay the noise of this impact was reportedly heard up to 50 miles away and it caused a huge displacement of water the resulting wave is believed to have been up to 1720 feet tall it's thought that the unique topography of the landscape contributed to this with the wave initially being around 100 feet but continuing to grow in size as it traveled along the lake further research looking at the lake bed has also found that there's evidence of far more sediment than was expected which suggests that the landslide may have released a second release of debris from a nearby glacier and released far more energy than was previously thought it's lucky no one lived around the bay because a wave like this would have pulverized anything that it comes into contact with no other wave is known to have been anywhere near its size but perhaps most worryingly something like it could quite easily happen again because it was caused by a landslide there will be absolutely no warning until it's too late watch our waves playlist for more top 15 videos about massive waves sit back relax and binge watch all of our best wave videos you

Channel: Top Fives

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Keywords: LARGE Waves, biggest waves

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Length: 21min 2sec (1262 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 01 2021