Tonga: the tsunami floods the streets and cuts communications after the eruption of an undersea volcano | Tonga

An undersea volcano erupted spectacularly on Saturday near the Pacific nation of Tonga, sending a tsunami across the shore and sending people to higher ground. Tsunami warnings were issued for other Pacific islands, the Australian east coast, Hawaii, Alaska and the US Pacific coast.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or the extent of the damage because internet connection with Tonga was lost at around 6.40pm local time.

Fiji-based news website Business Islands news reported that a convoy of police and military forces evacuated King Tupou VI from his palace near the shore. He was among the many residents who headed to higher regions.

In Tonga, which is home to about 105,000 people, a video posted on social media showed big waves washing the beach in coastal areas, swirling around houses, a church and other buildings. Satellite images showed the massive eruption, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like mushrooms over the blue Pacific waters.

Authorities in the two neighboring island nations of Fiji and Samoa have also issued warnings, telling people to avoid the shoreline due to strong currents and dangerous waves. In New Zealand, officials have warned of possible storms from the eruption.

New Zealand’s private forecaster, Weather Watch, wrote on Twitter that people as far away as Southland, the country’s southernmost, reported hearing a screeching sound from the explosion. Others reported that several boats were damaged by the tsunami that hit a marina in Whangarei, Northland.

Earlier, Matangi Tonga news website reported that scientists noticed massive explosions, thunder and lightning near the volcano after it began erupting early Friday. Satellite images showed a 5-kilometre-wide plume rising into the air to about 20 kilometres.

Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano is located about 64 kilometers north of the capital, Nuku’alofa. In late 2014 and early 2015, a series of eruptions in the area created a new small island and disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days.

A tsunami warning has been issued for all of the archipelago, Tonga’s meteorological services said, and data from the Pacific Tsunami Center said waves of 80 centimeters (2.7 feet) were detected.

A Twitter user known as Dr. Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau posted a video showing waves crashing onto the beach.

“The eruption can be heard literally, it sounds very violent,” he wrote, adding in a later post: “It rains ash and small pebbles, darkness covers the sky.”

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the latest in a series of dramatic eruptions.

Earth imaging company Planet Labs has been monitoring the island in recent days after a new volcanic eruption there began to emerge in late December.

Satellite images captured by the company show how the volcano has radically shaped the area, creating a growing island off Tonga.

Tonga volcano underwater

“The island’s surface area appears to have expanded by about 45% due to Ashfall,” Planet Labs said days before the latest activity.

After the volcano erupted on Saturday, residents in Hawaii, Alaska and along the US Pacific coast were advised to move away from the coast to higher ground and heed specific instructions from local emergency management officials, said Dave Snyder, the National Tsunami Warning Coordinator. Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.

“We don’t issue a warning to this shoreline like we did – I’m not sure last time – but it’s really not an everyday experience,” Snyder said.

He said the waves that hit the beach in Hawaii were only under more dangerous tsunami warning standards.

“It looks like everything will remain below the warning level, but it’s hard to predict because this is a volcanic eruption, and we’re set up to measure earthquakes or sea waves from earthquakes,” Snyder said.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has issued an evacuation order for Lord Howe Island, 780 kilometers northeast of Sydney, and warnings for a swathe of the mainland’s east coast. Sydney’s Bondi Beach was evacuated overnight, and the marine threat warning remained in effect Sunday morning Australian time.

The Bureau of Meteorology said a tsunami wave height of 1.27 meters was recorded on Norfolk Island, 900 kilometers from Lord Howe Island, at 9 pm EST, and a wave of 82 cm was recorded on the Gold Coast in Queensland at 10.54 pm EDT Saturday.

She said that 1.10-meter waves were recorded in Neds Beach on Lord Howe Island around 11 pm EST, and 50 cm high was observed in Derwent Park in Hobart around 11.44 pm EST.

However, the office on Sunday morning canceled its tsunami warning for the state of Queensland, which is in the northern part of the country’s east coast. In New South Wales to the south, the government’s emergency service urged residents to stay away from the water. It said, “An initial onshore tsunami warning for Lord Howe Island’s low-lying coastal areas has since been downgraded to a marine tsunami warning on Sunday.

Smaller waves have been recorded in Hawaii, Alaska, and California.

Beaches and sidewalks across southern California have been closed as a precaution. The National Weather Service tweeted that “there were no major flood concerns.” However, strong currents were possible, and officials warned people to stay out of the water.

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