This was an interesting story in the Caller-Times today. DBG
Heavy wake churned by a passing ship Wednesday evening washed out 25 feet of a Port Aransas pier, stranding 13 people, officials said.
The ship was passing the Charlie’s Pasture Pier at the end of Port Street when high waves washed out sections of the wooden structure about 5:30 p.m., said Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Mike Griffin.
Two Coast Guard ships rescued all 13 people from the cut-off pier. The wake was strong enough to crash waist-high over the seawall near the pier, said City Manager Michael Kovacs.
A man near the pier on the seawall suffered an injury to his elbow when the wake knocked him over, Kovacs said, but he declined medical treatment.
Man, we used to hang out at charlies pasture allthe time growing up.. there would be folks hanging out waiting for the ships to draw down the water level... then go gig whatever critters were left and try to get back in before the wake came back.. That would have been a bummer to have been on that pier..
I'm glad no one was hurt either, but I can just see some Oklahoma tourist yelling "Tsunami!!!" and trying to run off the pier!!
I wonder if they might have caught any of this on the Port A fishcams? I think they had one pointed at the marina that catches Charlies Pasture in the background.
That leaves some additional structure for mangrove snappers!
There are a bunch of mangroves around that pier.... shhhhh its supposed to be a secret....
ya i heard that if the tides are just right and those big ships are going fast enough it can send a tidal wave essentially flooding into those condo canals on the port a side of the channel....musta been a site but boy would i have been pissed
I was at charlies one time when I was younger. There were a couple of guys sitting there with gigs. When a ship came by it left a few flounder laying around flopping. They would run down and get them and come back real quick. The wave that came in was no where close to 8 ft though...
Another place this happens is over off Ingleside, I remember sitting at the old Sun Terminal and watching several skiffs get launched about 20 feet up onto dry land when a ship came speeding by. Luckily no one was hurt, but boy were there some mad people.
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