Saturday, January 15, 2022

A Tsunami Advisory Has Just Been Issued For BC After A Volcano Erupted In Tonga
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The underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean erupted on Saturday, sending large waves crashing across the shores of the South Pacific islands and flooding Tonga's capital city Nuku'alofa.

Now, a tsunami advisory has been issued for the north coast and Haida Gwaii, the central coast and northeast Vancouver Island, the outer west coast of Vancouver Island, and the Juan de Fuca Strait coast.

"Wave activity" is expected in Langara at 8:30 a.m. PT and Tofino at 8:50 a.m. PT.

People in coastal areas that are at risk are advised to stay away from the shoreline.

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If you are in a tsunami advisory area, you should:
Get out of the water, off the beach, and stay away from harbours, marinas, breakwaters, bays and inlets.
Not return to the coast until local emergency officials say it is safe to do so.

People who own boats have been told to move their vessels out to sea to a depth of at least 180 feet.
According to CNN, the eruption has also prompted tsunami advisories for New Zealand's North Island and the west coast of the United States from California to Alaska.

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

Volcano eruption triggers tsunami advisories along entire West Coast

The explosive eruption of an undersea volcano set off a 5.8-magnitude earthquake near Tonga Saturday, powerful enough to trigger tsunami advisories for the entire North American West Coast including British Columbia.

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano, situated about 65 km, north of Nuku'alofa, generated a 1.2-metre tsunami, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said. It elicited an earthquake that registered at a 5.8 magnitude.

RELATED: Tsunami observed in American Samoa after Tonga volcano erupts

Shockwaves from the eruption made their way across the entire globe and the sound was heard as far away as Alaska.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Tsunami waves were recorded in Tonga's capital and the capital of American Samoa, according to a U.S.-based tsunami monitor. There have been reports of rocks falling from the sky.

As a result, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued tsunami advisories for much of B.C.'s coastal regions. People in coastal areas that are at risk are advised to stay away from the shoreline and heed instructions from local authorities.

"There is a possibility of strong localized currents. No significant inundation is expected, but low-lying coastal areas and beaches may be at risk. A tsunami is a series of waves. The first wave may not be the largest," the advisory from ECCC reads.

© Provided by The Weather Network

In the U.S., the mainland tsunami advisory extends from California's border with Mexico to Attu Island at the tip of Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

It was reported that Hawaii, which has now been dropped from the tsunami advisories, was already seeing tsunami waves of up to 0.82 metres, with accounts of boats being lifted out of the water onto docks, but no inundation cited. High waves were also spotted in Alaska, and are expected to hit the Oregon and southern Washington coast shortly.

In Tonga, video was captured of tsunami waves hitting shore and people higher ground.

The large eruption was seen from space and verified to be the cause of the tsunami, which swept through buildings, fences, roads and cars in Tonga not long after it occurred.

With files from Reuters.

Thumbnail courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch (RAMMB)/Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA).

Noise from underwater volcanic eruption across the Pacific heard in the Yukon

Luke Carroll 4 hrs ago
© Mary Lyn Fonua/AFP/Getty Images This picture taken on December 21, 2021 shows white gaseous clouds rising from the Hunga Ha'apai eruption seen from the Patangata coastline near Tongan capital Nuku'alofa. Noise caused from the eruption could be…

Some Yukon residents woke up to loud sonic booms and shaking homes after an underwater volcano erupted across the Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. National Weather Service posted on Facebook that loud booming sounds heard in Alaska are the result of shock waves from an underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga that have finally reached North America.

Several residents in Haines Junction, Whitehorse and other parts of the territory posted about the sound in various Facebook groups.

Georgina Widney, who lives in the Ibex Valley about 50 km outside of Whitehorse toward Haines Junction, said she awoke sometime between 5 and 6:30 a.m. to her house shaking.

"We heard a little bit of rumbling and we thought someone was on our deck or an animal," she said.

Widney said she and her husband went outside, as did many of their neighbours, where it sounded as though the noise was coming from the sky.

"It got really loud," she said.

She compared the noise to that of a large truck passing by and said the sound lasted for about an hour.

The sound could also be heard in Whitehorse where Elise Maltin said it woke her at about 6:45 a.m.

"I was asleep and then it dawned on me that I was hearing some noise," she said. "I couldn't figure out what it was."

Maltin said it sounded like a thumping noise, comparable to a jet taking off. She said she experienced an earthquake five years ago, which sounded similar.

As a result of the volcanic eruption, the U.S. National Weather service is warning of a possible tsunami in Alaska. The Canadian government issued an tsunami advisory for the B.C. coast.

Maltin said her thoughts are with the people affected in Tonga and that she immediately reached out to a friend in Alaska when she heard the news.

But she added the experience was interesting way to start off her Saturday.

"There are some really sad parts," Maltin said. "But as a natural occurrence it was pretty interesting to hear something like that."

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