Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
Massive ocean waves left devastation across Hawaii July 17, but what Dillon Murphy remembers is that the wedding cake survived.
The massive waves caused flooding and housing damage in Keauhou on the island of Hawaii, according to KHNL-TV in Honolulu.
“The current and waves got really big around 4 to 5 p.m. and didn’t calm down until around 10:45 p.m.,” resident Isabella Sloane said.
“My condo was hit the first time and flooded everything. Condos down the way from mine were completely wiped out and damaged really badly,” Sloane said. “Thankfully, everyone is safe.”
Unreal footage of waves crashing OVER the Keauhou Kona Surf & Racquet club. Details on what happened there, tonight on our KITV news at 5 and 10pm. @kitv4
?: Isabella Sloan pic.twitter.com/sN71sfGlxG
— KITV4 – Meteorologist Malika Dudley (@MalikaDudley) July 17, 2022
Melanie Llanes of Ocean View said her development’s parking lot “was just like a river.”
“At one point, the waves were so big, everyone in the pool is kind of cheering and applauding they thought it was really cool and it was at first,” she said. “And then it got a little scary towards the end.”
Meanwhile, in Kona, Murphy and his wife, Riley, were celebrating their wedding when an uninvited guest crashed the outdoor reception, according to KHON-TV.
“We were kind of right at the moment where we were going to start moving a couple things and, yeah, this big wall basically just showed up,” Dillon said. “And luckily there was no food in any of the containers, the cake luckily made it.”
“But we did end up getting some good pictures with like waves splashing up, and the ceremony was beautiful,” he said.
PARTY CRASHER: A big wave put a damper on a wedding reception in Hawaii. No injuries were reported, but the cake was destroyed. https://t.co/VlN6EK59Sh pic.twitter.com/wVnlsTMeAZ
— ABC News (@ABC) July 18, 2022
“We didn’t have our dance floor, but nobody seemed to mind, at the end of the night we were all like dancing in the mud and it was amazing,” Riley Murphy said.
“Maybe even more memorable than if it hadn’t happened,” she said.
The couple had initially worried about Hurricane Darby raining on their ceremony.
“And like Dillon was saying, we were so worried about the remnants of Darby and like, ‘Are we going to get rainfall?’ But never really took into account that the high surf might impact our wedding as well,” Murphy said.
“The show still went on and it was, it was a really, really fun night,” she said.
Local guests at this wedding have told me they weren’t expecting it to be this bad and the backwash on Ali’i Drive was crazy. Other local guests also wanted people to know that the wedding was still beautiful. No one was hurt.
Latest: https://t.co/x4qmCXVyvy
?: Sara Ackerman pic.twitter.com/KhNh3kETHv— KITV4 – Meteorologist Malika Dudley (@MalikaDudley) July 17, 2022
Murphy said there was a lesson in the wave’s surprise visit.
“And just the analogy of, you know, life and storms hit. And it’s just, it’s so important to come together and to have all of our family and our loved ones there and it just made it very special,” she said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
