Weather tracker: Giant waves bring rare surfing event to Hawaii
Weather tracker: Giant waves bring rare surfing event to Hawaii
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Competition named after champion surfer Eddie Aikau is only held when waves in Waimea Bay top 30ft. A rare surfing event, The Eddie, took place in Hawaii last week, thanks to some giant waves. Formed about a week ago in the north Pacific Ocean, the waves emerged as a large low-pressure system produced an exceptionally large swell. They went on to hit Hawaii, enabling The Eddie to take place for just the 11th time in its 40-year history. Named in memory of the champion big-wave surfer and lifeguard Eddie Aikau, the competition requires that waves in Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, where the event is held, top 30ft (9 metres).
The waves went on to hit Peru, leading to three-quarters of the country’s ports closing. By this time the waves were not as big, but still peaking at almost 3 metres (9ft), so had lots of power and energy behind them, causing damage to boats and homes.
Over the weekend, severe thunderstorms and multiple tornadoes touched down in US states including Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, killing at least two people and injuring a further four. Over 68,000 power outages were recorded in Mississippi alone, with Alabama, Louisiana and Texas also recording about 75,000 outages between them on Saturday. Warnings were extended into more than a dozen states on Sunday, with further severe thunderstorms, damaging wind gusts, isolated tornadoes and hail. Heavy rain and strong winds are expected to clear north-eastwards across the mid-Atlantic region of the US early this week.
