Rogue wave smashes into couple on Washington beach, women say. ‘My body was on fire’
A birthday beach trip in Washington left two women in critical condition after a rogue wave suddenly engulfed them, multiple news outlets reported.
Lauren Perry, 24, was excited to go to Ruby Beach for her birthday with her girlfriend, Jenny Vu, on Oct. 24. The couple was visiting from Oklahoma, KOTV-DT reported.
The beach, near Forks, is well known for its towering sea stack structures, tide pools filled with colorful creatures and its red tinted sand.
Perry, Vu and their dog, Iver, made it to the shoreline in the afternoon during low tide, KOKH-TV reported. They took photos along the coast and began to walk back toward a piece of driftwood, the news outlet reported.
Then the two women were knocked down by a sudden and powerful wave.
“I happened just to turn my head and looked back, and as I did, that’s when the wave was coming,” Perry told KFOR-TV.
The wave carried a large piece of driftwood that smashed into Vu, the news outlet reported.
Rogue waves — or “freak waves” — can look like walls of water that are typically “larger than twice the size of the surrounding waves.”
Perry yelled to her girlfriend when she saw the wave and told her to run, KOKH-TV reported.
But the pair was swept away in the water.
“My body was on fire,” Vu told KOTV-DT. “It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life.”
Vu told the news outlet her pelvis was crushed by the piece of tree.
Perry and Vu blacked out on the beach until they were rescued by bystanders, KOKH-TV reported. Their dog was reportedly unharmed in the incident.
The women were taken to a hospital in Forks, then transported by ambulance to an airport to be flown to Seattle, according to a GoFundMe set up to pay for their medical care.
But the ambulance blew a tire and crashed into a tree while on the way, the post stated.
Both women required pelvis surgery and suffered liver lacerations, internal bleeding and a pulmonary contusion, the fundraising organizer wrote.
Vu also had 10 fractured ribs and a concussion.
The women have since returned to Oklahoma City where they are both using wheelchairs while they recover, KOKH-TV reported.
Ruby Beach is a remote beach in the Olympic National Forest. It’s about 25 miles southwest of Forks, a small town made well-known by the popular “Twilight” franchise.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Rogue wave smashes into couple on Washington beach, women say. ‘My body was on fire’."
