Satellite images showed the spectacular eruption that took place Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters. A sonic boom could be heard as far away as Alaska.
The eruption cut the internet to Tonga, leaving friends and family members around the world still anxiously trying to get in touch to figure out if there were any injuries and the extent of the damage. Even government websites and other official sources remained without updates.
Tsunami advisories were earlier issued for Japan, Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. Pacific coast. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the eruption caused the equivalent of a magnitude 5.8 earthquake. Scientists said tsunamis generated by volcanoes rather than earthquakes are relatively rare. Tonga gets its internet via an undersea cable from Suva, Fiji, which presumably was damaged. All internet connectivity with Tonga was lost at about 6:40 p.m. local time, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for the network intelligence firm Kentik.
In Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported waves that measured half a meter in Nawiliwili, Kauai and 80 centimeters in Hanalei. Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC had watched the island in recent days after a new volcanic vent there began erupting in late December. “We don’t issue an advisory for this length of coastline as we’ve done - I’m not sure when the last time was - but it really isn’t an everyday experience,” Snider said.
New Zealand’s private forecaster, Weather Watch, tweeted that people as far away as Southland, the country’s southernmost region, reported hearing sonic booms from the eruption. Others reported that many boats were damaged by a tsunami that hit a marina in Whangarei, in the Northland region.
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