Anniversary of the Great Vela Luka flood
During the early morning of June 21, 1978, a small town on the west coast of Korčula Island was hit by an unprecedented flood. Within merely 10 minutes sea level rose more than 3 meters from its mean level and then swiftly retreated to more than 3 meters below its mean level. Sea-level oscillations lasted throughout the morning hours resulting in severe flooding and drying of the harbor, with the ground floors of the buildings completely underwater during the flooding phase, boats stranded at the sea bottom during the drying phase, and exceptional sea currents bringing destruction in between.
The origin of the event remained a mystery for more than a year when prof. Orlić from the Ruđer Bosković Institute explained it as an event of an atmospheric origin, caused by distinct short-period atmospheric pressure oscillations. Nowadays, we call such events meteotsunamis. Up to this day, the Great Vela Luka flood of 21 June 1978 remains the strongest known World meteotsunami.
