Freak waves¹⁾, more than twice the significant wave height, do exist and happens many times a day. With the height of 10-storey building, are a threat to even biggest ships.

Only in the last two decades, severe weather is blamed for the loss of 200+ ships over 600ft+ long, and rouge waves were the main suspect in many of the cases ²⁾.

Experimental demonstration of the spontaneous generation of rogue wave in the wave tank on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0psJp6I2Z0