Breaking News Volcanic Eruption Near Tonga

[Bear Ribs]

An absolutely massive seafloor volcano named Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apa, just cooked off near the Tonga Islands. Tsunamis have subsequently flooded them and hit American Samoa. New Zealand is expecting some impact and Hawaii and the entire US pacific coast have tsunami advisories. Japan expects swells but that their normal preparations for tsunamis will be adequate.

Tsunami advisories lifted in US after waves hit Tonga

An underwater volcano in the South Pacific erupted violently on Saturday, causing tsunamis to hit Hawaii, Japan, and Tonga's largest island, Tongatapu -- sending waves flooding into the capital.

www.cnn.com

This thing was truly massive. This tweet has a feed of how it looked from space. Completely unreal, and note this is how much energy it had left after punching through the ocean from the seafloor.

 

[Bacle]

Jesus, look at that eruption cloud, and from an understanding sea volcano as well.

Hope everyone in the path of the tsunami's gets to high ground fast.

 

[Bacle]

 

[SpaceOrbis]

My goodness, that looked bad. It truly shows the power of nature. To be able to see it from space is mindblowing. I hope everybody who will no doubt deal with the after effects are going to be ok.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Update on the story:

Right off the bat is that there is a large amount of difficulty in assessing damage to Tonga due to the amount of ash that needs to be cleared away from the airport before it can be used for operations. The process of clearing the airport is reportedly being done "by hand" and is expected to finish on Wednesday so that aid flights can start. The eruption also severed the islands only underseas cable. There are also issues with securing a stable supply of water. However local authorities and resources have managed to re-establish electricity and mobile cell phone networks across most of the island chain though service can be spotty.

There's as of yet only one confirmed death, that of a British woman trying to rescue her dogs and who was tragically swept away.

Both Australia and New Zealand are deploying assets to aid the country including naval vessels.

Reports of ‘significant damage’ in Tonga after eruption, tsunami

Governments and aid agencies try to assess extent of disaster amid ‘challenging’ communication links.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[Husky_Khan]

Another update.

The airport has been cleared of ash and aid has been arriving over the weekend by ship and plane from New Zealand, Japan and Australia. JSDF C-130's have flown in delivering tons of water, as apparently the water shortage is the biggest cimmediate crisis on the island at the moment. The HMAS Adelaide, a Canberra-class Landing Helicopter Dock, is providing water and electrical supplies as well as a 40-bed hospital. Ships from the United States and Britain are also on their way.

The tsunami reportedly destroyed fifty houses on the main island, and has impacted 80% of the local Tongan population. The waves generated by the tsunami affected areas as far away as smashing boats in New Zealands docks and causing an oil spill in Peru as well.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-01-22/australia-delivers-water-telecommunications-aid-to-tonga

 

[Bacle]

It was a steam explosion and caldera collapse, and went higher than Toba...no wonder it looked so bad.

 

[Bacle]

Further update; caldera floor dropped about 700 ft, is still erupting and was a VEI 6/the largest eruption since Pinatubo.