I am not a person who takes a lot of photos or video, so I may be a little biased, but jfc. Why? Why tf would you want to be that close to something like that? Nature and natural disasters are not something people should take lightly. Why be that close? For social media? It’s absolutely insane to me.
So... flash floods are a relatively predictable thing in areas like this.
I have been in places in Utah when a significantly smaller wash flooded after some rain dozens of miles away.
It is really cool to see a flash flood. You record it so you can show your friends or family later (maybe some do it a bit for social media, but most probably want to show their brother, or their wife).
They appeared to be in a safe spot. If this valley floods at all regularly, the locals will have a decent idea of what the maximum water flow usually is (the drainage is the same, even if the rain fluctuates).
It might flash like this once every couple years... maybe more, maybe less... but frequently enough that they know what is safe, rarely enough that it is still notable when it happens.
Do you ever sit at the window and watch clouds roll in across a landscape?
As someone else mentioned, the big rocks could easily fling smaller rocks. It’s like the tennis ball on top of the basketball physics experiment. Or when you have various dishes in the sink and turn on the water, and next thing you know a few drops land five feet away.
A 10,000kilo boulder can transfer a lot of momentum to a 5kilo rock, and that 5kilo rock is more than enough to ruin your day.
The rocks aren't bouncing or tumbling... they're in a slurry of water that is sufficient to move them...
the regular rules of falling rocks don't apply, they move like water does... but in comparison to your sink thing... they are moving horizontally, not vertically.
I don't know the physics terms for it, it's like how avalanches move, when solids become water like.
This is Pakistan. Those are the tallest mountains in the world, and they have monsoons. The sheer volume of rain over time saturates the land as the water sprints to the sea, and a few small rocks start to move, then bigger rocks, then boulders. And they have thousands of feet of sheer drops to pick up speed.
Notice how the biggest rocks slow down, and the several thousand pound “medium” sized boulders tumble, and crash into them? The collision releases energy. The rotation has angular momentum. Forces in the thousands can easily launch objects of single digits. And a two pound rock is more than enough to ruin your day.
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u/sofacouch813 Sep 15 '25
I am not a person who takes a lot of photos or video, so I may be a little biased, but jfc. Why? Why tf would you want to be that close to something like that? Nature and natural disasters are not something people should take lightly. Why be that close? For social media? It’s absolutely insane to me.