Wedding swamped by massive waves
<p dir="ltr">A wedding in Hawaii has been derailed after massive waves sent tables and chairs crashing towards guests.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Wild weather that included waves over six-metres tall - attributed to high tides and rising sea levels associated with climate change - ravaged the island’s south shores over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sara Ackerman, one of the attendees at the wedding in Kailua-Kona, filmed the terrifying scene that happened about five minutes before the ceremony was due to start.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I was filming it and then it just came over the wall and just completely annihilated all the tables and chairs,” she said.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">“It wasn’t like a life-threatening situation by any means whatsoever. It was just like, ‘Oh my gosh … What are we going to do? Where are we going to put the tables?’”</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Despite the chaos, Ackerman said the ceremony went ahead and that they cleaned up the mess after the newlyweds exchanged vows.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We had the ceremony and it was beautiful, having all the (sea) spray,” she said. “The ocean was really wild. So it was great for the photos.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The weather wasn’t just ruining weddings, with waves crashing into homes and businesses, and spilling across highways, as reported by <em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/hawaii-waves-swamp-homes-weddings-during-historic-swell/24f3ac40-49a2-4fc4-9c0a-81257e7ea7d6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9News</a></em>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lifeguards and rescue crews across the state were occupied by the weather, conducting at least 1,960 rescues on the island of Oahu alone over two days.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One serious injury was reported by Honolulu officials, where a surfer suffered a laceration to the back of his head.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Chris Benchley, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s office in Honolulu, said waves of this size were incredibly rare.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Waves over 12 or 15 feet (3.66 or 4.57 metres), those become extremely big and really rare to have," he said. “It’s the largest it’s been in several decades.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">He explained that the swell was produced in the South Pacific, which recently experienced a “particularly strong winter storm” with winds focused directly at Samoa and Hawaii.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Though it’s hard to pin the blame for this single weather event directly on climate change, Brenchley said it does play a role.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“The most direct type of impact that we can use with climate change is the sea level rise,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Any time you add just even small amounts of water, you raise that sea level just a little bit. And now those impacts will be exacerbated whenever we have a large storm event or a ... high, high tide.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We had some waves that were reaching 20 feet (6 metres), 20 feet-plus even,” Brenchley added. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“That’s getting on the level of historic.”</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fadcae0f-7fff-95a0-4705-8108a65342a7"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: 9News</em></p>
