Peruvian glacier split triggers deadly tsunami (in Andean lake)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/13/peru-glacier-ice-lake-tsunami

Peruvian glacier split triggers deadly tsunami

Chunk of ice the size of four football pitches falls from Hualcan glacier into Andean lake, resulting in at least one death

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 April 2010 18.01 BST

A massive ice block broke from a glacier and crashed into a lake in the Peruvian Andes, unleashing a 23-metre tsunami and sending muddy torrents through nearby towns, killing at least one person.

The chunk of ice, estimated at the size of four football pitches, detached from the Hualcan glacier near Carhuaz, about 200 miles north of the capital, Lima, on Sunday. It plunged into a lagoon known as lake 513, triggering a tsunami that breached 23 metre (75ft) high levees and damaged Carhuaz and other villages, according to authorities.

The Indeci civil defence institute said 50 homes and a water processing plant serving 60,000 residents were wrecked. Trout fishermen initially presumed dead survived, leaving one confirmed death.

Authorities evacuated mountain valley settlements fearing that the ice block, measuring 500 metres by 200 metres, could be followed by more ruptures as the glacier melts.

...

[Canuckistanian]

1. I'm sorry

Did you say 23 meters? In a LAKE?

[TheMadMonk]

2. Easier than in the open ocean. Lakes have a (relatively) small fixed volume.

Any significant displacement of water is going to have a profound effect. And if the only exit point is a steep valley, the wave is going to climb very high.