In 1958, Alaska’s Lituya Bay saw a 1,719-foot wave—the tallest ever recorded—when an earthquake sent 90 million tons of rock into the bay. “It was equivalent to dropping eight million dump truck loads,” NASA stated. The confined bay amplified the wave’s height, devastating the landscape. Today, melting glaciers threaten to trigger similar disasters.
Hawaii has also seen mega-tsunamis. Around 105,000 years ago, a 1,000-foot wave struck Lanai, leaving marine fossils high in the mountains. Unstable volcanoes like Kilauea still pose a risk, as “these unstable slopes could collapse again,” according to Penn State researchers.
The West Coast faces similar threats due to landslides and seismic activity. Scientists continue to monitor these high-risk zones, warning that warming climates and geological instability make future events increasingly likely.
