28ft Rogue Wave Slams Florida Beach ‘Like a Tsunami’ (Video)

Per the Pinellas Podcast, a radio show based outside of Tampa, they showed footage of the aftermath, heard from the victims, and shared some rogue wave history in the area. Here’s podcast host Marc Jason describing what happened:

“Wait until you see this video. So, a rogue wave rolled through Fort De Soto. This was a week ago. Here’s video. This is unbelievable. You hear people in there talking like it was a tsunami. You can’t prepare for a rogue wave. And a lot of people think that it can’t happen in the gulf.

“I found a study from USF, back in 2022, and they have identified 32 rogue waves over a four-year period in Tampa Bay. And the largest was around 28 feet. So, they happen here. This wave is crazy.”

Then, they cut to the footage of the folks on the beach – their tents, beach chairs, coolers, etc. all floating in the lingering water from the wave, scattered across the sand.

“Holy cow,” says one beachgoer. “This huge wave just came up from out of nowhere. It was literally like a tsunami. That just came out of nowhere. That’s a rogue wave.”

Just recently, scientists recreated the open-ocean conditions that make these freak rogue waves, but in the safety of a lab. And the results were not only insightful, but mesmerizing. As one YouTuber explained regarding the video:

“Beyond the visual spectacle, this technology plays a key role in maritime safety and engineering. Researchers place scale models of oil rigs, wind turbines, and cargo ships in the basin to observe how they handle extreme impacts.

“By studying how wave energy concentrates and interacts with structures, engineers can design stronger, more resilient systems. In essence, it is a controlled environment for studying one of the ocean’s most unpredictable and dangerous phenomena without the risks of real-world storms.”