Results for Natural events

Extraordinarily heavy rainfall in southern Tonga during October smashed a national record, and in ‘Eua the flash flooding coincided with extreme high tides.

A total of 118 earthquakes were detected within the Tonga region in September. Due to upgraded earthquake detectors, Tonga Geological Services is recording an average number of 100 earthquakes monthly - twice as many as before they had the equipment. "It does not mean that more earthquakes are happening, but that we are getting more data and detecting more earthquakes," said TGS officer, Mele Manu.

A  gale warning for Tongatapu and ‘Eua  was issued by Tonga Meteorological Services this afternoon, 16 October 2024, following a heavy rain and flash flood advisory issued earlier today for southern Tonga.

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake was felt throughout 'Eua, Ha'apai, Vava'u, and Tongatapu this morning at 10:50 am, at a depth of 10 km, Tonga Geological Services reported.

A shortage of workers has caused frequent delays for the building of 14 tsunami relief houses at Ta’anga in ‘Eua, at the resettlement area for some of the tsunami-affected families from Mango, Ha’apai. It is hoped that the homes that were set to be completed by May 2024 will be completed before Christmas.

The Tonga Red Cross Society (TRCS), an organization dedicated to helping thousands of vulnerable people in Tonga, now needs a little help itself, to escape increasing floodwaters around the termite-ridden buildings in Nuku'alofa that it has worked in for decades. TRCS Secretary General, Sione Taumoefolau, told Matangi Tonga that they are organizing a fundraising ball on 22 November, to start raising funds toward constructing a new service centre that will cost around $15-16 million.

Tonga is experiencing unusually cool night time air temperatures that are forecast to continue throughout the week. Tonga Met reported that Hango 'Eua on the morning of Tuesday, 13 August, recorded the coolest temperature in 2024 of 11.3 celcius.

There have been no new ash emissions recorded at the Home Reef volcano as monitoring continues, the Tonga Geological Services (TGS) reported today, 1 July. TGS advises all Mariners to sail beyond a safe distance of 4 km from Home Reef until further notice.

The Home Reef volcano is showing a decrease in it's Volcanic Radiative Power (VRP) as detected by the MODIS-MIROVA satellite, with the most recent thermal anomaly observed at 8:06am, Tonga Geological Services reported today, 24 June.