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500 metre 'megatsunami' hits US coast as experts warn 'we won't be so lucky next time'

A record breaking 500 metre 'megatsunami' has 'terrified' experts after it caused devastation off the coast of the United States, and sea boffins warn that more could be on their way

[fjord in alaska]

Thankfully nobody was hurt by the wave(Image: John Lyons/ US Geological Survey)

A record breaking 'megatsunami' has left experts shaken after it caused destruction off America's Alaskan coast. The gigantic wave, officially the second largest ever recorded by oceanographers, was the result of a landslide caused by a collapsing mountain, and measured at a whopping 500 metres tall.

The terrifying megatsunami caused utter devastation to the Alaskan fjord where it was trigged, but incredibly due to the remoteness of its location and the fact that it occurred very early in the morning, nobody was harmed by the wave, something experts warn was a 'close call', according to a report published by the BBC.

The mountain collapse, triggered by melting ice that was previously holding it in place, released a whopping 64 million cubic metres of rock into the water below, the equivalent of dropping 640,000 London buses, or 24 Great Pyramids at once.

[Tallest Tsunamis recorded showing that The wave was much taller than buildings like The Shard]

The wave was much taller than buildings like The Shard(Image: John Lyons/ US Geological Survey)

While nobody was harmed by the wave, experts who are have studied it are warning that this was a 'close call', and that similar 'megatsunamis' triggered by melting ice could cause far greater devastation.

Geologist Dr Bretwood Higman who saw the damage up close told the BBC he was "terrified" by what a similar scale tsunami could do, warning that it was only due to the time of the collapse that cruise ships were not docked nearby.

[fjord where it was situated ]

The wave caused mass destruction in the remote fjord where it was situated (Image: John Lyons/ US Geological Survey)

He said: "We know that there were people that were very nearly in the wrong place. I'm quite terrified that we're not going to be so lucky in the future."

Dr Higman reportedly arrived at the Alaskan Fjord, known as Tracy Arm to find much of the area stripped of soil and vegetation.

The Alaskan Geologist warns that global warming caused by fossil fuels will likely lead to more megatsunamis in the future.

[Tsunami stormy sea waves on sand beach, Thunderstorm background]

The wave was a whopping 500m tall (Image: Getty Images)

He said: "At this point, I'm pretty confident that these are increasing not just a little bit, but increasing a lot," he said.

"Maybe in the order of 10 times as frequent as they were just a few decades ago."

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