The wave can travel at 800kph+ and is usually barely more then a swell until just before it hits the island and is forced up the ocean floor towards the shore. Then it slows dramatically and can hit land in various different ways depending on the topography of the ground, and the speed and mass of the water. In many cases this time around it SEEMS to have come in as a rapidly rising tide that flooded the land from 2 feet to 5 feet and then a lull and then a huge upsurge with a rise of up to 30 or 40 feet. That lull seems to have led a lot of people to relax for a moment thinking that was 'it', only to be shocked and caught off guard a few moments later by the additional million tons of water crashing down on them.
Talk about being caught off guard, eh? Thinking it is over to only find out it is just beginning...
Claeren.