tidal wave

This election was an emotional tidal wave, one that's engulfed the whole world in the wake of the pandemic, the trauma of which we clearly have yet to fully process.

The proliferation of at-home DNA tests has ushered in a tidal wave of skeletons shaken from closets, while generational shifts — and rising secularism — have made things that were once life-ruiningly shameful exponentially less taboo.

Ms Johnson explained the water hit her smallholding "like a tidal wave" after the area was hit by bad weather in the past week.

Bernthal: When she put that wig on, she became like a volcano with a tidal wave attached to it.

And while this is about a whole lot more than a tidal wave of social media posts, it's yet more evidence of the way the online world can inflame pre-existing tensions in the real world.