A video posted on X shows the terrifyingly high water level overflowing into the US military base on Roi-Namur Island, the second largest island in the Kwajalein Coral Island, where the US military ballistic missile defense testing site in the Republic of the Marshall Islands is located.
The fierce waves broke the doors and windows, sweeping away the surrounding furniture as they rose to the ceiling.
Leave here now - one could hear someone scream right before the power outage and darkness engulfed the facility at around 9am on the evening of January 20.
In a video posted on Facebook, Colonel Drew Morgan, commander of the US military's Garrison-Kwajalein Coral Island (USAG-KT), said some people were slightly injured by "huge, unexpected waves" sweeping across the northern point of the small island.
But the US military report said the damage to the island's infrastructure was huge.
Many areas on the island are submerged in water, the US military posted a statement along with aerial photo taken on January 21 showing widespread flooding in Roi-Namur.
According to USAG-KT, the runway on the island needs to be cleared so that recovery activities can begin. There are 120 US soldiers on the island.
Houses, vehicles, the theater and a monk's house on the island were all damaged. According to the military, it could take up to several months to recover. However, the report did not mention any damage to military infrastructure.
According to CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford, the video appears to show a rogue wave ( mass waves or thunderstorms) that the National Weather Service defines as a large wave that suddenly appears with a huge size, possibly over 20-30 meters high.
The impact of the assassination wave is getting worse as sea levels rise as climate change worsens, Shackelford said. The effects of these waves are also felt more clearly on low-lying islands, including the Marshall Islands.
The Geological Survey said that the maximum altitude of Roi-Namur is below 4 meters. This island is very small, with a total area of about 2.5km2.
The island is also far away, about 3,900km southwest of Hawaii and just 9 degrees north latitude.
That makes it a great place for missile testing and detection - according to the US Army Rocket and Space Defense Command, which operates the Ronald Reagan ballistic missile defense testing area in Kwajalein.
Rada sensors, optics and remote measurements on coral islands support missile testing, missile launches, reconnaissance and space monitoring activities as well as scientific experiments for the Ministry of National Defense and many other government agencies - the military informed in detail in the dossier on the testing site.
This is also an important location for monitoring foreign missile and space activities. With the ability to display the first of most launches outside of Europe and Asia, RTS provides important information about the trajectory of new foreign launches to support the US Strategic Command.
In total, there are about 1,300 Americans living and working on the Kwajalein Coral Island.
