The large waves — more than 20 feet high — came from a combination of a strong southerly swell that peaked Saturday afternoon, high tides and sea level rise related to climate change, the National Weather Service said. A Saturday night wedding in Kailua-Kona was interrupted when a series of large waves washed over the event, sending tables and chairs crashing into the guests. Sara Ackerman, a writer who grew up in Hawaii and attended the wedding, filmed the waves as they came ashore. Swimmers, boarders and surfers in Waikiki, Hawaii (Craig T. Kojima/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) “It was just huge,” he said. “I was filming it and then it just went over the wall and just completely obliterated all the tables and chairs.” He said it happened about five minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start. “It wasn’t like a life-threatening situation by any means,” he said. “It was like, ‘Oh my God… what are we going to do? Where shall we put the tables?’ He said they went ahead with the ceremony and cleaned up the mess after the newlyweds exchanged vows. “We had the ceremony and it was beautiful, having all the (sea) spray,” he said. “The ocean was really wild. So it was great for the photos.” Chris Brenchley, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s Honolulu office, said many factors combined to create such massive waves. “Waves over 12 or 15 feet, they get extremely big and they’re really rare,” he said. “It’s the biggest it’s been in several decades.” Mr Brenchley said the swell was produced in the South Pacific, where it is currently the winter season. “They had a particularly strong winter storm where the winds were focused directly on places like Samoa and then north to Hawaii,” he said. The remnants of Hurricane Darby passed south of Hawaii but did not have a major impact on the surf, he said. While individual events like this are difficult to directly link to climate change, Mr Brenchley said a warming planet is playing a role. “The most immediate type of impact we can use with climate change is sea level rise. Every time you add even small amounts of water, you raise the sea level a little bit,” he said. “And now those impacts are going to get worse every time we have a big storm or a … high, high tide.” Most large summer swells coming from the south are no bigger than about 10 feet, which would trigger a high surf advisory. “We’ve had some waves up to 20ft, even 20ft,” Mr Brenchley said. “This is reaching the level of history.” Hawaii’s northern shores, where professional surfers often compete, typically have much bigger waves than other parts of the islands. The dominant swell hits the northern shores in winter and the southern shores in summer. Lifeguards and rescue crews across the state had a busy weekend. They conducted at least 1,960 rescues on the island of Oahu alone on Saturday and Sunday. Honolulu officials reported a serious injury when a surfer suffered a cut to the back of his head.
