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'There's Something Strange Happening With the Sea'(Michael Dobbs almost swept away in Tsunami)
Washington Post ^ | December 26, 2004 | Michael Dobbs

Posted on 12/26/2004 4:45:36 PM PST by Snapple

The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible -- a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before.

As the waters rose at an incredible rate, I half expected to catch sight of Noah's Ark.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: michaeldobbs; srilanka; sumatraquake; tsunami
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Michael Dobbs the famous Washington Post writer nearly swept away by Tsunami while swimming in Sri Lanka near his brother's house. He found his wife in a tree. She is OK.

The kids were still in bed. They are in his brother's home 60 feet high on a rock with no electricity or water. But they are lucky.

I like Michael Dobbs and am glad he and his family are safe!

1 posted on 12/26/2004 4:45:37 PM PST by Snapple
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To: Snapple
Harrowing account. But, sheesh, the guy's brother owns an island?
2 posted on 12/26/2004 4:50:32 PM PST by JennysCool (QuarkXPress has caused an error in QuarkXPress. QuarkXPress will now close.)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: Snapple; All
Crosslinked:

The Great Wave- Sumatra Quake and tsunami of 2004
 

4 posted on 12/26/2004 4:52:28 PM PST by backhoe (-30-)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Snapple

Excerpting requirements apply even in replies.
Thanks.


6 posted on 12/26/2004 4:55:54 PM PST by Admin Moderator
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To: Snapple

If he had been reading FreeRepublic the night before, he would have had advance warning of the tsunami.


7 posted on 12/26/2004 4:55:59 PM PST by Godebert
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To: JennysCool

I think he owns a resort so Dobbs went there with his family for Christmas.

Lucky the kids were lazy little bums!

Being a teenager can save your life.


8 posted on 12/26/2004 4:56:27 PM PST by Snapple
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To: Snapple
"Within minutes, the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea, rushing over the road and pouring into the flimsy houses on the other side."

Nothing about the people living in these flimsy houses.
9 posted on 12/26/2004 4:58:02 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (The difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin)
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: Eaker; humblegunner; TexasCowboy
He found his wife in a tree.............:o)

Who'd a thunk it !

11 posted on 12/26/2004 5:00:56 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: Snapple

This is a very harrowing account.
I'm doubly glad to be safe and warm in my home in Kansas.
I'll have to give my family an extra hug.
All my prayers are with the people in Asia.


12 posted on 12/26/2004 5:02:41 PM PST by srm913
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

Well, you have to get away before the water comes in again.
He had to find his wife and family and then they got back to the house.

He will have some more reports soon.

Remember there is no electricity--probably he is using his cell phone for this.

What he experienced was mild compared to what happened in some places or he would be dead. Still, he was lucky.


13 posted on 12/26/2004 5:02:59 PM PST by Snapple
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To: Squantos
"He found his wife in a tree.."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A lot of American husbands can probably say that.

14 posted on 12/26/2004 5:05:15 PM PST by Rockpile
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To: Snapple
I like Michael Dobbs and am glad he and his family are safe!

And you like him because he is Liberal, or what? Please explain.

15 posted on 12/26/2004 5:07:10 PM PST by Concentrate
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To: Snapple

BTTT


16 posted on 12/26/2004 5:07:15 PM PST by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: Rockpile

Vs under a rock in every other country......:o)


17 posted on 12/26/2004 5:08:25 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: Concentrate

I like him because he really knows how to ask questions and get the story.

He is an excellent reporter.


18 posted on 12/26/2004 5:09:43 PM PST by Snapple
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To: Snapple
I like Michael Dobbs and am glad he and his family are safe!

To his credit, Dobbs was the only MSM reporter to practice due diligence on the Swift Boat Vets for Truth accusations.

He researched the Silver Star incident and concluded that it happened pretty much as the SBVT said it happened.

He submitted an FOIA request for Kerry's records and got a total of four pages, reporting that "over one hundred pages" remained beyond his reach because Kerry had not submitted a Form 180.

At that point, the WaPo took him off the story and dropped any further investigation.

19 posted on 12/26/2004 5:12:38 PM PST by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: Snapple

This reads like fiction, especially the part about being out for a swim and still surviving. Maybe it is true. I am glad they survived.


20 posted on 12/26/2004 5:16:33 PM PST by Ditter
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To: srm913

"I'm doubly glad to be safe and warm in my home in Kansas"

Well, there is always next tornado season Toto!


21 posted on 12/26/2004 5:16:43 PM PST by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
"Within minutes, the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea, rushing over the road and pouring into the flimsy houses on the other side." Nothing about the people living in these flimsy houses.

He mentions them later in the story.

22 posted on 12/26/2004 5:17:01 PM PST by PlayaDust
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To: Ditter

I think the impact where he was was not as bad, but I would have drowned in his situation. And his wife might have had she not grabbed a rope.


23 posted on 12/26/2004 5:18:14 PM PST by Snapple
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To: okie01

HE is an honest reporter.

Here ia one of his stories about the Kinko's documents

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24635-2004Sep15.html

He really knows how to make a case. I learn a lot from reading him. He doesn't prejudge or editorialize. He lets the facts speak for themselves.


24 posted on 12/26/2004 5:20:01 PM PST by Snapple
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To: Snapple

BTW - Many here, including myself, have been concerned about our military facility on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. I just read on Fox that the Pentagon is reporting no damage is being reported from there.


25 posted on 12/26/2004 5:20:30 PM PST by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
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To: Squantos
"He found his wife in a tree.............:o)"

Well, he's fixing to blow twenty bucks for a manicure!

26 posted on 12/26/2004 5:26:07 PM PST by TexasCowboy (Texan by birth, citizen of Jesusland by the Grace of God)
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To: Snapple

I was standing on the beach in Hawaii looking at a calm sea. All of a sudden the sea rose up in a wave that was 10 to 12 feet high. I turned and ran but I could not escape it. It caught me and the water rose almost to my waist. The tug of the water was unbelievable, I could feel the sand washing from under my feet, but I was able to continue up the beach and out of the water. It scared the you know what out of me. It was not a tsunami, just a real big wave. My story sounds like fiction too but its not.


27 posted on 12/26/2004 5:26:45 PM PST by Ditter
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To: TexasCowboy

LMAO....depends....was she wearin shoes ?


28 posted on 12/26/2004 5:30:38 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: Snapple
Luke 21 25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

29 posted on 12/26/2004 5:37:04 PM PST by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (Proverbs 10:30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.)
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To: Squantos
He found his wife in a tree.............:o) Reverse evolution.
30 posted on 12/26/2004 5:38:02 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Free the Fallujah one)
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To: Sola Veritas
BTW - Many here, including myself, have been concerned about our military facility on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. I just read on Fox that the Pentagon is reporting no damage is being reported from there.

I think you have to be a near a very large mass of land for a tsunami to have an effect. They say a person in a boat in the middle of the ocean wouldn't even notice it.

31 posted on 12/26/2004 5:38:40 PM PST by Moonman62 (Federal Creed: If it moves tax it. If it keeps moving regulate it. If it stops moving subsidize it.)
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To: Ditter
I was standing on the beach in Hawaii looking at a calm sea. All of a sudden the sea rose up in a wave that was 10 to 12 feet high. I turned and ran but I could not escape it. It caught me and the water rose almost to my waist. The tug of the water was unbelievable, I could feel the sand washing from under my feet, but I was able to continue up the beach and out of the water.

There are signs all over the coast of Oregon warning of "sneaker waves." I wonder if that's what it was.

32 posted on 12/26/2004 5:41:37 PM PST by Moonman62 (Federal Creed: If it moves tax it. If it keeps moving regulate it. If it stops moving subsidize it.)
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To: Snapple
Isaiah 24

20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

33 posted on 12/26/2004 5:41:47 PM PST by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (Proverbs 10:30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.)
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To: Ditter
I believe your story and I don't care about his politics. What a horrifying experience! And to know that 1000's of others weren't so fortunate over there. I'm still staggered by the number of deaths. My first reaction was it's God's population control. But that was so trite and awful. Such ugly thoughts. Terror, I'm sure, unlike any I've ever imagined. One minute things are sunny, perfect and beautiful...the next destruction, death and horror on every side. Dear God help them.
34 posted on 12/26/2004 5:43:03 PM PST by jatfla
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To: Snapple

If they had no electricity, how did they get the story out?


35 posted on 12/26/2004 5:47:18 PM PST by reg45
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To: Ditter
"My story sounds like fiction too but its not."

Sounds rather ordinary. I've seen plenty of tourists suprised by big waves in Hawaii. One time I saw about a half dozen haoles get rinsed off of a reef.

36 posted on 12/26/2004 5:49:02 PM PST by Godebert
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To: Rockpile; Squantos; Eaker; humblegunner; TexasCowboy

<< "He found his wife in a tree.."

A lot of American husbands can probably say that. >>

Kerry and KKKling Tong and every other liberal surely can!

The ones, that is, whose "spouses" didn't slither from under rocks and slide from fever swamps.


37 posted on 12/26/2004 5:49:20 PM PST by Brian Allen (For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord -- Luke 2:11)
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To: Moonman62

I'd think someone in the middle of the ocean might notice a wave or series of waves traveling at up to 500 mph. Guess it all depends on the depth of the water though?


38 posted on 12/26/2004 5:50:55 PM PST by Normal4me
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To: reg45

They have the story on audio on the front of the post. Probably he called it on on his cell phone. People who travel have extra batteries for their computers and all sorts of fancy phones.


39 posted on 12/26/2004 5:52:44 PM PST by Snapple
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To: reg45

Cell phone?


40 posted on 12/26/2004 5:53:42 PM PST by GOP_Proud (Those who proclaim tolerance, have the least for my views.)
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To: Moonman62

"sneaker wave" I don't know but that is a good name for it. It rose up very close to shore and kind of sucked back to its full hight and then came crashing down. It wasn't very wide but it's been a few years since it happened so I don't remember that detail very clearly. My ex-brother in law was standing beside me and got caught in it too. I would like to see a photograph of a tsunami but I know why there probably aren't any. LOL


41 posted on 12/26/2004 5:56:34 PM PST by Ditter
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To: Godebert

If you are from the Gulf Coast it sounds like fiction LOL


42 posted on 12/26/2004 5:58:53 PM PST by Ditter
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To: Snapple

Incredible account of the story.


43 posted on 12/26/2004 5:59:05 PM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: Squantos; Lijahsbubbe
He found his wife in a tree

She was the apple of his eye.

44 posted on 12/26/2004 6:04:14 PM PST by Thinkin' Gal
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To: Thinkin' Gal

There was an account given on the news by a reporter who was in Thailand when the tsunami hit. He had to grab his son and run like crazy. Scary!

I had no idea that this part of the world is such a huge tourist spot. (sheltered being that I am...)


45 posted on 12/26/2004 6:06:44 PM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath

Amen and Amen!
Isn't it interesting that this happened on Christmas Day?


46 posted on 12/26/2004 6:07:05 PM PST by Revelation 5 (God bless George W Bush)
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To: Ditter
All of a sudden the sea rose up in a wave that was 10 to 12 feet high. I turned and ran but I could not escape it. It caught me and the water rose almost to my waist. The tug of the water was unbelievable, I could feel the sand washing from under my feet, but I was able to continue up the beach and out of the water. It scared the you know what out of me. It was not a tsunami, just a real big wave. My story sounds like fiction too but its not.

I believe you. Here in Washington State every year we have people that die in the ocean because of rip tides. I have experienced it in a minor way. It takes the sand away from your feet also. You're supposed to swim parallel to the shore when you are caught in one.

47 posted on 12/26/2004 6:13:22 PM PST by Vicki (Truth and Reality)
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To: Snapple

I had to stop reading when I reached the part about the brother who bought the island on a "whim".


48 posted on 12/26/2004 6:14:21 PM PST by Mears
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To: GOP_Proud

Satellite phone, I imagine.


49 posted on 12/26/2004 6:15:06 PM PST by Defiant (Democrats: Don't go away mad, just go away.)
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To: okie01

Bump.


50 posted on 12/26/2004 6:17:04 PM PST by First_Salute (May God save our democratic-republican government, from a government by judiciary.)
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