Video: The tsunami from ground level

posted at 7:48 pm on March 14, 2011 by Allahpundit

Via Gizmodo, which calls it the scariest first-person video yet. What you’re seeing here, simply, is a river form before your eyes. First it looks like a nasty flash flood tumbling down the street. Moments later, it’s turned into rapids. And then, after three or four minutes, you’re watching houses rush by as the current roars along. I wonder how long it was before the guy filming this felt confident that he was safe where he was. By the end of the clip, he looks to have ascended a good 30 feet at least.

As I write this, the estimated death toll stands at 10,000 or more, but that’s a conservative estimate. They’ve already pulled 2,000 bodies off the shore of one city alone.

Blowback

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Comment pages: 1 2

He said that leaves the northeast side, with the West Coast of the US and Canada. Massive quakes in three of the four quadrants…

Rubbish. The Cascadia Trench is another animal altogether.

While it COULD rupture tonight, tomorrow, next week, the odds are about a 300-600 year cycle, which puts it’s next activity at January 29, 2150.

One, or two, or three parts of the Pacific Plate do NOT necessarily have an affect over the last remaining quarter. The record shows this.

wccawa on March 14, 2011 at 10:04 PM

Interesting to read that steam vents have been found on the slopes of Mt. Fuji, if I read correctly. Some say they could be from decomposing plants — others, from rising magma.

Interesting and very scary.

KyMouse on March 14, 2011 at 9:42 PM

Rubbish again. Above a certain level (fairly low), there IS no vegetation on Mt. Fuji. Having personally climbed it, I can state that with some certainty. My feet still hurt.

wccawa on March 14, 2011 at 10:07 PM

Just knowing that we’ve seen :

Jan 2011 : Chile
Feb 2011 : New Zealand
March 2011 : Japan

send chills up my spine.

pambi on March 14, 2011 at 10:33 PM

At the beginning, the van looks to be outrunning the front of the water. If he didn’t get held up, he could have escaped.

Pythagoras on March 14, 2011 at 11:03 PM

That is a lot of water

tommer74 on March 14, 2011 at 11:18 PM

After Katrina, I spent a week in Waveland, MS evaluating storm damage. As I stood there amidst total destruction, I wondered what it was like when the storm surge hit land and wiped out so many homes. Now I have an idea of what it was like.

Mallard T. Drake on March 15, 2011 at 12:00 AM

I lived in Long Beach, MS during Camille and had to rescue my dad during Katrina. Water can be the most powerful, frightening force on earth. I was in the heart of it three days after the strike and its frightening to think about it.

Please God, give Japan a break. They need it.

itsspideyman on March 15, 2011 at 1:55 PM

Comment pages: 1 2