Santa Cruz Wharf's collapse threw three people into the ocean after the National Weather Service warned of waves up to 60 feet.

In a worst-case scenario, several factors coming together ... stirring the ocean down to 1,600 feet. These waves move exponentially larger volumes of water, amplifying their destructive potential.

"It's been big, a lot of power in the water ... don't make us come and get you," said SFFD Captain Justin Schorr. Schorr says waves are breaking between 15 and 25 feet near Ocean Beach.

The Santa Cruz Wharf reopened to visitors and businesses on Saturday, less than two weeks after crashing waves from a powerful storm collapsed more than 100 feet of the pier into the ocean.

But a jaw-dropping photo of Slebir’s relatively tiny form racing down a collapsing mountain of ice-cold Pacific Ocean water has gone viral, with knowledgeable big-wave surfers around the globe ...

In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the island of Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean ... giant wave, and it's actually much more like a wall of water.