Volcano creates surge in Northland
Just when the Tutukaka community is recovering from the impact of Covid19, there’s a volcanic explosion and the tsunami surges take down multiple boats, causing millions of dollars worth of damage at the marina.
Boat owners and businesses at Tutukaka Marina are still shaken up from Saturday night’s tsunami surges following the large volcanic eruption in Tonga and large swells from Cyclone Cody that damaged at least 50-60 boats and sunk around a dozen other boats.
Dive! Tutukaka co-owner Jeroen Jongejans says the business has already lost millions in turnover since 2020 because of Covid-19, and this will just add more to it. “From a business point of view, we were first hit with the pandemic where we lost our international tourists, and then came the Delta variant and the lockdown last year which washed our Auckland market, then we lost four days because of the cyclone, and on top of that, we have got his happening now.”
Jongejans said they pulled the boats as much as they could on Saturday night. The first thing they did the next morning was moving all the debris, the broken pole and the broken marina parts, and moved the sunken boats that they could move out of the way to prevent further damage. There were no tsunami warnings issued by Civil Defence (Cdem) but National Emergency Management Agency advised the coastal communities in NZ to expect strong, unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore. “We expect New Zealand coastal areas on the north and east coast of the North Island and the Chatham Islands to experience strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore following a large volcanic eruption at Hunga-tonga-hungaha’pai in Tonga,” the Cdem advisory, issued at 8.14pm on Friday said.
“Strong currents and surges can injure and drown people. There is a danger to swimmers, surfers, people fishing, small boats and anyone in or near the water close to shore. People in or near the sea should move out of the water, off beaches and shore areas and away from harbours, rivers and estuaries until at least 04.00 am NZDT Sunday 16 January 2022.”
Jongejans said it would have been “nice” if they had been notified with a tsunami warning. “But if you don’t know it is coming, and you only know when it is here then it is a bit too late to do anything or put those training to use.” — Northern Advocate