Tongan capital rocked

Volcano causes ‘significant’ damage but no deaths, says NZ Prime Minister

Nuku’alofa: Parts of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa suffered “significant” damage in the powerful volcanic eruption but there have been no reports of injury or deaths, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Sunday.

Communications with the Pacific island have been cut since Saturday’s eruption damaged the undersea cable but Ardern said her government had made contact with the New Zealand High Commission in the Tongan capital.

“The tsunami has had a significant impact on the foreshore on the northern side of Nuku’alofa with boats and large boulders washed ashore,” Ardern said.

“Nuku’alofa is covered in a thick film of volcanic dust but otherwise conditions are calm and stable.”

But there has been no word on damage in Tonga’s outer islands with New Zealand set to send an air force reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the region on Monday if the volcanic ash cloud permits.

Dramatic satellite images showed the long, rumbling eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano spew smoke and ash in the air, with a thunderous roar heard as far as 10,000km away in Alaska. It triggered a tsunami flooding Pacific coastlines from Japan to the US.

Ardern said there was “no ongoing large eruption” and ash had stopped falling, but further volcanic activity could not be ruled out.

Dramatic satellite images showed the long, rumbling eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai send a huge mushroom of smoke and ash into the air and a shockwave across the surrounding waters.

A tsunami wave measuring 1.2m was observed in Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. People scrambled to higher ground on islands of Tonga, an archipelago.

Local Mere Taufa said she was in her house getting ready for dinner when the volcano erupted sending water crashing into her home.

“It was massive, the ground shook, our house was shaking. It came in waves. My brother thought bombs were exploding nearby,” Taufa told the Stuff news website.

She said water filled their home minutes later and she saw the wall of a neighbouring house collapse.

“We just knew straight away it was a tsunami. Just water gushing into our home. You could just hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to get to higher ground.”

Tonga’s King Tupou VI was reported to have been evacuated from the Royal Palace in Nuku’alofa and taken by police convoy to a villa well away from the coastline. The eruption lasted at least eight minutes and sent plumes of gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air.

Residents in coastal areas were urged to head for higher ground following the eruption – which came hours after a previous tsunami warning was lifted on the island.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano’s latest eruption was so intense it was heard as “loud thunder sounds” in Fiji over 800km away, according to officials in Suva City.