Huge wave rips through Marshall Islands restaurant as diners flee in terror

A huge wave crashed into a restaurant in the Marshall Islands ripping through doors and sweeping diners off their feet.

Erik D. Hanson, a diver living nearby in the Kwajalein Atoll, captured the moment waist-deep water flooded the Outrigger Bar on Roi-Namur, which sits on the site of a US Army base in the region. At least a third of the island was left underwater on Saturday night, 20 January. The Marshall Islands are loose collection of no-elevation coral atolls in the Pacific, which are in danger of disappearing due to rising sea levels from climate change.

A number of people suffered minor injuries but an official from the US Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll confirmed that all personnel on the island are accounted for.

Roi Namur residents were evacuated and left a small team behind to assess the damage and begin restoring essential services.