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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLights out! Lighthouse is swamped by 160ft waves - as high as 11 double-decker buses -
Climate change? Rising, violent seas--the swamping has begun...
* This is the dramatic moment a lighthouse off the coast of France was pummeled by massive 160ft-high waves
* The entirety of the structure, in Quessant, France, was engulfed by the massive swell which struck in February
* Photographer Mathieu Rivrin said the waves were so powerful he could feel the sea spray from inside the helicopter
'It's called Phare de la Jument as Jument is the name of the rock where the lighthouse was built.
'The building itself is 47m high and throughout the day the waves were between 15-20m tall. I was in a helicopter to capture these images.
'The winds were very strong - 140km/h [85mph] during Storm Ruzica - or Storm Imogen in English - so only one helicopter could fly over the storm at the time.
'I was about 20m away from the lighthouse when I was photographing it. Sometimes, as I was taking the pictures I could feel the spray of waves reach me.
'It wasn't scary but it was fascinating. I've been dreaming of a moment like this since I was five years old.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3525950/Lights-Lighthouse-swamped-160ft-waves-high-11-double-decker-buses-85mph-winds-strike-French-coast.html
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This is the future for New York, London and other great coastal cities. Think of these kinds of swells breaking at the base of One World Trade Center in NY and lapping at the foot of Canary Wharf in the East End of London. Major upheaval in the offing.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,861 posts)IcyPeas
(21,904 posts)thanks for posting that, it was interesting.
onethatcares
(16,184 posts)the tiny ship was tossed..........
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)JackInGreen
(2,975 posts)the minnow would be lost....
the minnow would be lost...
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)Mary Ann
liberal N proud
(60,344 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)the water would leak down the walls during noreaster's!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)The noise from the crashing water must be infernal.
yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)and the Coast Guard didn't bring out a new door for two months!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)to buy food with?
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)we would drop off food and mail to five Light Houses and that boat would rise and fall about 20' on the waves, so you had to time it just right!
AxionExcel
(755 posts)OldEurope
(1,273 posts)And it has been happening before, just not caught with a camera. There is a reason that this lighthouse is fixed to the ground with extra steel cables.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)brer cat
(24,605 posts)Those are amazing photos...and it is indeed scary to think of those swells hitting coastal cities.
Thank you for posting these, Surya Gayatri. ot...I hope your hip is mending well.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)is coming along. I'm able to get out to do my own shopping and run errands now, using just one crutch or a cane. I only limp when I'm tired.
Another month or so, and I should be good to go.
longship
(40,416 posts)Lake Michigan can be a real bitch.
And you thought that the ocean was a bitch. Well, this is our bitch!
Another:
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Still, those swells have thousands of miles to work up power and punch, when crossing the Atlantic.
longship
(40,416 posts)We call them Alberta Clippers.
And they are not to be trifled for.
Bad shit on the lake when an Alberta Clipper is going.
BTW, that lighthouse is occupied.
1939
(1,683 posts)Because it is so shallow. It is like an eggbeater in a saucer.
longship
(40,416 posts)And it's really, really big!
My recommendation is if you want to swim, plan on a short swim. It's fucking cold, even in summer. However, the north shore is also fucking beautiful.
Check out Agawa Rock.
The path isn't easy:
But the Hiawatha story is on the rock cliff:
Written there hundreds of years ago.
It is a nice trip. One can camp at the provincial park or get a bed in Wawa, Ontario. Both are nice.
My best to you.
1monster
(11,012 posts)When the gales of November come early... "
Gordon Lightfoot
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)that the bodies don't bloat, they just sink.
NickB79
(19,258 posts)They're choking to death on their ascending testicles!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I was about to say the same. I have stood on shore during a storm- no way in hell that I'd want to be on the water.
1939
(1,683 posts)My wife's family lived in Milwaukee, my family lived in Detroit, and we lived in Maryland or Virginia. When we visited families, we used to go across Lake Michigan on the old C&O/Pere Marquette car ferries, Spartan and Badger, from Ludington so that we didn't have to drive though Chicago. C&O used to run those ships summer and winter.
longship
(40,416 posts)When I was very young my family took the Badger across Lake Michigan from Ludington. That was when they took railroad cars, too. The problem was that they had to balance the damned ship before they could leave port. Well, my father, my two sisters, and I were fucking seasick before we left the dock. The god damned SS Badger was rocking back and forth and back and forth as they balanced the railroad cars. My dad held my head while I hurled over the railing. And he was doing the same.
Once we got going, the Badger was cool. My seasickness went away (thankfully).
And the SS Badger is still going across Lake Michigan, from Ludington to Manitowoc, WI.
Here:
Passing past the Ludington lighthouse. It's a big ship, 410' long.
http://www.ssbadger.com/
B Calm
(28,762 posts)of my old Navy days. When we parked my truck and camper on board the ship I noticed everyone pulling coolers of beer from their vehicles. It was a party all the way to Ludington!
longship
(40,416 posts)The Badger started in 1953, which was about the time I took my trip on it. I would have been five years old at the time. Or there abouts. All I can remember is the back and forth as they balanced the damned box cars and my father holding my head over the rail as we both hurled into the lake, seasick before we even left the fucking dock!
1939
(1,683 posts)You couldn't have it off balance by more than one car per side, so loading and unloading the rail cars was a slow process (which eventually killed the RR ferries. One time the switcher put too many ore cars on one side of the ferry at Mackinac and the ferry rolled over in the slip.
The C&O ran ferries from Ludington to Milwaukee, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee.
Grand Trunk ran from New Haven to Milwaukee
Ann Arbor ran from Frankfurt to several destinations (they have the old C&O ferry City of Midland as a museum).
.
longship
(40,416 posts)We took the Badger to WI, and returned on the Milwaukee Clipper, which was a really nice ride. I was really young so I don't remember much. We had a stateroom, though. It was a night passage. I basically slept through the whole thing on the way back.
1939
(1,683 posts)After Grand Trunk wanted out of the RR car ferry business, another non-RR company ran the passenger and auto business Muskegeon-Milwaukee on the Clipper.
For a while, the Ann Arbor ran a ferry Frankfort-Escanaba.
Blues Heron
(5,942 posts)Not quite as big as Daily Mail wants us to believe, but impressive nevertheless. Cool pics, thanks.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,377 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)and waves were splashing the windows on the bridge. What a ride!
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)court marshal a navy captain for that. Sea preparedness training or something like that would have been his defense.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)Myself I thought it was fun, but I'm the kind of guy who will drive hundreds of miles to ride a new roller coaster.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,364 posts)Mutiny will have to wait.
1939
(1,683 posts)The Norfolk Navy sends all its ships that are operational to sea to ride out the hurricane there. The ships are safer at sea during the storm than tied up to the dock. It can get pretty nasty with lots of injuries from guys getting thrown around in addition to the seasickness. Each ship has a block of sea all to itself and they just keep making square donuts over several square miles of ocean. The key is to avoid other ships and ride it out till recall.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)USS ALBANY CG10
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,364 posts)Or are those the waves of a normal north Atlantic storm?
Did it do any damage to the lighthouse? Did it extinguish the light? Did it cause ripples in the lighthouse keeper's glass of wine?
Helicopter? No F...... Way!
btw, London is not a coastal city. It's a bit up the Thames river, though a really big wave could go upstream. It does have a mechanical barrier that can be closed if a big wave threatens.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Or more ago. This isn't new. This particular event isn't significant.
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Wave-washed lighthouses usually sit on rocky ledges that lie just beneath the surface of the water. These ledges are actually the tips of underwater mountains. So, the ocean floor surrounding the ledge is shaped kind of like a ramp, with the lighthouse sitting atop the shallowest section. These formations make big waves, and lighthouses built on them get hammered. Relentlessly.
This is Minot's Ledge, just off the coast of Scituate, MA. The tower here is actually the second one built on that spot. The first was a built from bunch of metal rods, like a jungle gym. Engineers figures the open structure would provide less resistance against the waves. They were wrong, of course. An 1851 storm ripped the lighthouse from its moorings, killing the two assistant keepers tending to the light at the time.
Lit in 1860, the current light was the most expensive built in the United States at the time. Solid granite proved a better building material.
KelleyKramer
(8,982 posts)Hekate
(90,793 posts)Glassunion
(10,201 posts)It is nothing new. It was constructed on a rock set well out into the water.
The seas have always been rough in this area, where the English Channel, Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay all meet.