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Rogue Wave Blows Out Windows Of Pacifica Restaurant

PACIFICA (KPIX 5) - A rogue wave that broke the windows of an oceanfront restaurant in Pacifica and then flooded the ground floor was caught on surveillance cameras.

Moonracker restaurant's banquet hall is now stripped of its carpet as dehumidifiers run to get out any excess water.

"Initially it broke the window and then a bunch of water came through and then more water piled through again and that's a huge wave," said Gary McNamara, one of the owners of the Moonraker restaurant.

He said, "The windows shattered. I mean glass just went everywhere and the room filled up with water pretty quickly."

Mcnamara says when he came to work Saturday morning, he and staff found the first floor was flooded.

"I don't know if it was from the wind or a rock came through the window, so we went to our surveillance camera and pulled the footage back up and obviously it was something more serious than that," McNamara said.

The surveillance video captured a rogue wave that came up over the breakers and straight into and through the restaurant's first floor windows.

McNamara said, "I've seen how big the waves get out here they crash at the sea wall. But that's concerning, it has a clear 30-40 feet of concrete."

He says the damage is estimated to cost anywhere between $10,000 and $15,000.

The windows are now boarded up

The good news is the waves crashed into the first floor around 5:15 a.m., so no one was inside at the time.

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