LIVE – Eruption in the Tonga Islands: tsunami alert in several countries, Japan fears 3m waves

A spectacular eruption and the specter of a devastating tsunami. After “minor floods” in Hawaii, tsunami warnings were issued Saturday morning for the west coast of the United States, according to the US weather services. These alerts come after Friday’s eruption of a volcano in the Tonga archipelago.

“Leave the beaches, ports and marinas” in the areas concerned, recommends the National Weather Service (NWS), which specifies with “relief” that the American islands of Hawaii did not report any damage.

Several states could be affected by the tsunami, including California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia, said the NWS. “The main impacts expected are strong rip currents and flooding of coasts and low-lying areas”, warns the weather service on Twitter.

Tsunami warnings have also been issued for Fiji and Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. The Australian authorities have notably asked the population of Sydney and its region, New South Wales, to “to get out of the water, and to move away from the edge of the water”.

In Chile, the National Emergency Situations Office has warned of the possibility that a “minor tsunami” does not reach Easter Island and other Chilean archipelagos. “As a precautionary measure, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, the San Félix Islands, Easter Island and Chilean Antarctica it is requested, due to the eruption of a volcano in the Tonga Islands, to leave the areas of beaches where a minor tsunami could occur”, said Onemi.

A few hours later, Japan, in turn, warned of the threat of this tsunami. Waves of three meters high are to be feared, warned the National Meteorological Agency. A 1.2-meter tsunami has already reached the southern island of Amami Oshima around 11:55 p.m. local time on Saturday, before other areas along Japan’s Pacific coast saw smaller waves.

Residents of the Tonga Islands fled to higher ground on Saturday as a nearly 1.2 meter tsunami was triggered by a new eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano. The eruption lasted eight minutes and was so loud it was heard “like distant thunder” in the Fiji Islands, more than 800 km away, Fijian authorities said. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano is located on one of the uninhabited islands of Tonga, about 65 km from the country’s capital Nuku’alofa.