[dead]

After the first two pictures, I just thought the woman was being an incredible dumbass thinking she’s having fun.

She was running towards what looks like her husband and four kids. I would imagine the five of them are all gone. It’s just so sad.

[Lazamataz]

Is that dark blue thing way in the background the tsunami?

If so, it is HUGE

[Arpege92]

Very sad!

[Muzzle_em]

In retrospect, we regard those people as idiots, but looking at the waves, they don't look THAT ominous. I've seen pictures of surfers in Hawaii on MUCH scarier looking waves. Not until you see them engulfing the boats do they look like something potentially scary. The tourists just don't realize that when those waves get to them, they are STRONG and followed by a whole LOT of water that is going to continue pushing inland. They probably thought the waves would stop at the shore. I'm betting the woman and family did not make it. SAD.

[bvw]

The wave was coming in at sixty or so. MPH. Hard to outrun.

[lindor]

When I viewed that second photo I could almost feel that she was running as if panicked and looking for her children. It seems that is what was happening.

If I recall something I had read, the first two or three waves were not as large and strong as the three following.

[1Old Pro]

WOW, the photo of the surf engulfing the boats is awesome. I hear many people on boats survived.

[shield]

HORROR

[fso301]

If they had experience with large surf, they would know to flatten themselves on the bottom just as the wave hits.

[Hand em their arse]

"After the first two pictures, I just thought the woman was being an incredible dumbass thinking she’s having fun."

I don't necessarily thimk she's having fun. I think she's running toward her family. Trying to put myself in her shoes, if my two little boys and wife were out there, I'd probably end up doiung the same thing. I couldn't really think about my own fate without first thinking of there's, ya know?

[freeperfromnj]

Wow. I didn't realize that six tsunamis hit.

[Nightshift]

ping

[Jagman]

We have a saying here on Hat Rai Lay Beach:

MI NAMI ES TSUNAMI!

[Darnright]

>She was running towards what looks like her husband and four kids.<

Horror is just inadequate to describe that scene.

[NittanyLion]

I wonder if the husband and kids were out on a kayak or something, and had to run all the way in to shore. I hope they didn't walk out on the seabed when the water receded.

[brewcrew]

A wave's energy lies as far below the surface as it does above. Once the wave comes close enough to shore where the ocean floor is shallower than the depth of the wave, it has nowhere to go but up. That's when it starts to crest and roll over. If it is a 30-foot high wave, it essentially runs into the ocean floor where the calm water is 30 feet deep and begins to fold over onto itself, creating the whitecaps we see in these photos.

This is the point where it becomes truly deadly for those too close to escape.

[Thud]

ping

[shellshocked]

What kind of logic says when the water runs out it is never coming back??

[budwiesest]

It appears the time it took this woman to cover about 30-40 yards, the water covered about a quarter mile.

[monday]

"She was running towards what looks like her husband and four kids. I would imagine the five of them are all gone. It’s just so sad."

Both the woman and her family did exactly the wrong thing. She should have run away to higher ground and her family would have been better off swimming out deeper and diving just before the wave hit letting it pass over their heads.

I expect you are right. They are dead.

[atruelady]

Thank you for the pictures.

It is sad what happened. You can see how the waters receded a lot.

Scary.