In this photo provided by the Oregon State Police taken Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, OSP troopers on all-terrain vehicles search a beach about two miles north of Cape Blanco, Oregon, where a father and his young son were swept out to sea Sunday as they walked near the surf. (Oregon State Police via AP)
From: AP News
By: ANDREW SELSKY
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — One moment, Jayson Thomas was on the Oregon beach with his 3-year-old son. The next, they were gone, swept away by a “sneaker wave” as his wife looked on.
The man and his boy were but the latest to be lost to a sneaker wave, which are prevalent in the Pacific Northwest. A leading expert says there needs to be greater awareness to prevent future tragedies.
In fact, Tuba Ozkan-Haller of Oregon State University has just finished the first year of a three-year research project to devise a sneaker-wave early warning system, a project funded by the National Science Foundation. She hopes the warnings will be sent out by the National Weather Service.
A sign along the trail to the beach warns of sneaker waves and high surf, though it was not immediately clear if warning signs are posted where Thomas and his family were.
The seas off Cape Blanco were not particularly rough on Sunday afternoon when Thomas, his wife and their son, who lived near Eugene, were on the beach, Ozkan-Haller noted.
But appearances can be deceptive.