Majorca and Menorca beaches hit by mini-tsunamis as dad is swept to his death by huge wave in front of wife and kids
The unnamed tourist, 52, was walking on a beach as a series of massive waves smashed into Menorca and Majorca
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A GERMAN dad-of-two died after being swept to sea in Majorca – just hours after a ‘meteotsunami’ laid waste to the holiday island’s beaches.
The unnamed tourist, 52, died on Monday after being dragged to sea in front of his wife and children.
It is believed the man was walking on Portopetro, Majorca, when he was swept to sea with his son and daughter.
claim the mum was able to pull her daughter to safety, while nearby canoeists rescued the son before dragging the lifeless dad onto the boat.
Cops are thought to be investigating the man’s death.
Nearby beaches were also flooded by a tsunami-like wave known as a “meteotsunami”, called a rissaga in Catalan Spanish.
The freak weather phenomenon devastated several holiday resorts, with seawater flooding bars and terraces by the coast in the island’s Port Andratx.
On Monday morning a massive wave – measuring nearly five feet – smashed into Menorca’s port city of Ciutadella.
Yacht owners were filmed desperately trying to stop their boats being washed away.
The strong current broke the ropes of a historic sailing boat used by the Majorca Island Council – which had to be rescued by sailors and brought back to port as it drifted out to sea.
One shocking clip shows desperate boat owners battling to keep their yachts from being washed away as the wave pounds a jetty in Port Andratx, Majorca.
Horrifying footage shows two men – barefoot and wearing shorts – trying to stop their luxury boat sweeping off into the harbour.
Meteotsunamis, also called meteorological tsunamis, are generated when rapid changes in barometric pressure cause the displacement of a body of water.
Beach chairs, boats and parasols were swept away by the wave.
Whats is a meteotsunami?
A meteotsunami is generated when rapid changes in atmospheric pressure cause the displacement of a body of water.
It often emerges as the forerunner of a thunderstorm and a cold weather front.
Meteorologists speak of an inversion when the air on the ground is cooler than in the upper air layers, which then changes the air pressure causing the meteotsunami together with strong gusts.
Meteotsunamis have also been recorded in the United Kingdom. The first ever officially identified British meteotsunami hit the Cornish coastline in June 2011.
British researchers first became aware of the meteotsunami after people walking across St Michael’s Mount causeway suddenly found themselves standing in water.
Andrew Sibley, of the Met Office, said: “The updrafts and downdrafts within a thunderstorm can create small and short-lived pressure changes, leading to initially small sea waves.
“These waves can then be amplified dramatically by resonance between the speed of the thunderstorm system and the speed of the wave if they are in phase.
“The speed of the sea wave is related to the sea depth. Such waves can also be funneled by coastal bays, estuaries and inlets.
Professor David Tappin of the British Geological Survey added: “Most tsunamis are geological, where you have a vertical movement on the seabed which can be caused by an earthquake, like in Japan in 2011, or a landslide.
“Meteotsunamis, however, are created by weather. You need a small, rapid change in atmospheric pressure of just a few millibars, if you get one of these then it can change the sea surface elevation by a few centimetres.
“In the deep ocean this would not be noticeable but when it enters shallow water whilst the weather system is moving at the same speed then the sea level increases by several metres.”
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