“This will go down in the history of Kwajalein as one of the most challenging moments in its 80-year history.”
On January 24, Futurism reported that a shocking video circulating on social media shows violent waves striking several key U.S. military facilities located in the Marshall Islands—a nation situated near the equator in the Pacific Ocean—causing significant damage that will take months to repair.
The video depicts terrifying scenes of rising waters flooding a dining facility on Roi-Namur Island (a small island within the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands). Roi-Namur is part of the missile testing area at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site—managed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
The force of the water was immense, ripping doors off their hinges and sweeping away many people. According to ABC7 News, fortunately, no serious injuries were reported. However, the U.S. Army reported that the island’s infrastructure suffered extensive damage.
“Many areas of the island, including the runway, are submerged. Housing, parking lots, theaters, and chapels on the island have all been damaged. It may take several months to recover from this,” the U.S. Army report stated.
The island’s infrastructure suffered extensive damage.
The Marshall Islands are extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change.
Researchers have found a link between global warming and flooding that can impact local infrastructure as well as freshwater supplies. In short, climate change may be partly responsible for this horrific incident.
“Roi Namur Island has been heavily affected by multiple large wave events since January 20. It is a combination of wind, tide, and wave direction,” wrote local dive instructor and maritime merchant Erik Hanson in the caption of a video he uploaded to Instagram.
According to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (part of the U.S. Department of Defense), 80 out of 120 residents on the island have been evacuated by the U.S. military. Flooding has damaged the housing of personnel stationed at the military base here.
“This will go down in the history of Kwajalein Atoll as one of the most challenging moments in its 80-year history,” Colonel Drew Morgan, commander of U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein (USAG-KT), stated in a video shared by ABC7 News.
According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, the Marshall Islands is a nation located in the central Pacific Ocean. The Marshall Islands comprise over 1,200 islands and islets arranged in two parallel chains of atolls—the Ratak Atoll in the east and the Ralik Atoll in the west. Among them, Kwajalein Atoll belongs to the Ralik chain. Roi Namur is an island located to the north of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. |
