Local residents told of waves suddenly crashing into their homes. Monday evening’s wave assault was unexpected by most because the high tide peaked the day before at 5.5 feet, a level far below the more than six foot tides that happen other times of the year.
“I was playing bingo inside my house with friends when all of a sudden, wave after waves flooded the house, washing away cards and money,” said Majuro resident Robert Jaul Tuesday morning. Then a 20-foot boat that had been sitting on land about 30 feet from his house was picked up by onrushing waves and rammed into the house and store beside the house. No one was injured.
Island residents were bracing for another possible onslaught of high waves and flooding Tuesday evening as government disaster officer officials warned that 10-12 foot swells could hit again at high tide at sunset. Majuro has a population of about 30,000 people.
About 300 people moved Monday night to local churches, youth centers and schools, said government official Waylon Muller who organized a donation of food by the local Chinese Association for displaced residents. No serious injuries were reported.
The government is moving to provide services and relief to the families who’ve had to move, said Cabinet Minister Christopher Loeak.
Bie Jieda, another Majuro resident, said “the waves broke through my windows and almost washed my two year-old niece out of the house while she was asleep in the living room.” Luckily, she said, the girl’s mother came to the two-year-old’s rescue before the waves could wash her out of the house Monday evening.
The single road on this narrow island was shut down for about three hours Monday night to allow government clean up crews with heavy equipment to remove tons of rocks, coral and garbage that the flooding tossed onto the road and into people’s yards and homes. “We finished cleaning up around midnight,” said Majuro Atoll Waste Company manager Roger Cooper. Police reopened the road for normal use late Monday evening and Tuesday saw residents working to clean up huge amounts of rubble from their yards and inside their homes.
The events of the past week “demonstrates the need to get better shoreline protection put in,” Cooper said. The reefs did not give the island much protection when the high waves coincided with the 6 p.m. high tide.
The higher than normal waves were caused by a tropical storm that started 500 miles northwest of the Marshall Islands and has moved westward, according to Majuro weather station chief Reginald White.
