The force of the waves combined with the high tide ripped up part of the beach and lifted some of the boats onto the road, and the nearby boat museum was flooded.
Pope Benedict's efforts to oppose the tide of many secular trends a force he once famously branded as a "dictatorship of relativism" were partly undercut by his struggle to communicate in a rapidly changing media landscape, turbo-charged by the Internet.
Not long after, in just a matter of minutes, the tide came roaring back and hit the barriers along the Galle Face Green with such a force that there were walls of water over 15 feet high shooting over the barriers and slamming on the areas where the people were standing not two minutes ago.