Fishers run for lives as water rushes back in

A group of people fishing in Northland’s Hokianga Harbour had to run for their lives early yesterday morning as waves from the Tongan tsunami unexpectedly surged around them.

New Zealand Civil Defence continues to warn people to stay off beaches, and watch out for strong currents or unpredictable surges in parts of the country, as the clean-up continues in Northland.

Tsunami waves swamped lowlying areas of Tonga on Saturday following an underwater volcanic eruption.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, US, confirmed the eruption generated a tsunami late on Saturday night. It followed an earlier eruption, on Friday, that sent ash, steam and gas 20 kilometres into the air.

The group fishing in Hokianga Harbour had to run for their lives as tsunami water surged up to their waists.

Local Lili Mullane said the group went down to the water near the northern harbour entrance about midnight to go floundering, a common activity on the weekends.

They had heard of a tsunami advisory following the Tongan eruption, but believed it was only for the east coast and that the threat had lifted, she said.

Mullane said the first sign of any trouble was an unusual reaction from the wild horses in the area, which suddenly started stomping and running away.

‘‘Next minute the water started going out . . . It went out about 50m and it was dry all around and all I remember was [a friend] Christy saying to me, ‘run’.

‘‘Within minutes, the water came up to our waists,’’ she said.

‘‘I wondered how deep it was going to get – in the dark you get a little bit confused. We had torches and headlamps but all I could see was water all around me and we just ran.’’

The fishing group managed to get to shore, where more friends in a ute were waiting for them, with water ‘‘gushing’’ all around them.

They drove through water nearly 1m deep, going onto private farms to get away, and managed to escape unharmed.

Marina damaged

A combination of the tsunami surge and the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Cody has caused millions of dollars of damage at a Northland marina, and caused evacuations in the Far North overnight Saturday.

A tsunami surge hit Tutukaka Marina about 9.30pm on Saturday, causing a number of boats to sink and several others to break free from their moorings and come aground or run into other boats.

Murray Soljak, Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management spokesman, said the marina itself was also damaged, with part of the fuel jetty coming loose. Those living aboard their boats in the marina were evacuated as a precaution.

Soljak said the marina had withstood four large tsunami surges since 2009 – when there was a tsunami in Samoa – and this was the worst damage he had seen, likely because the tsunami combined with the large seas of

Tropical Cyclone Cody. One boatie estimated millions of dollars of damage had been done at the marina.

Further north, a number of low-lying campgrounds were evacuated overnight because of tidal surges, including at Spirits Bay and Puriri Bay northeast of Whangārei.

Police helped evacuate about 50 people from Mahinepua Bay about midnight, a police spokeswoman said.

At Ahipara, on Northland’s west coast north of Hokianga, locals had ‘‘one eye on the pillow and another on the beach’’ overnight.

Tui Te Paa, a trustee of Te Kohunga Campground at Ahipara, said she saw an advisory about the tsunami on social media and followed official channels overnight – even though there was no warning on hazard apps.

With the campground being right next to the beach, there was an evacuation plan in place for the handful of campers, but there was no need to use it, Te Paa said.

Lack of tsunami warning criticised

Mullane said the lack of warning about the tsunami surge was poor, and there should have been a specific warning for Northland’s west coast, not just the east coast. ‘‘It’s not good enough, we’ve got a lot of older people around here.’’

Tutukaka locals are also questioning why there was no Civil Defence warning, no tsunami siren activation and no phone notification.

Northland has a series of tsunami sirens, which warn people to seek further information, most recently activated on March 5, 2021, in response to earthquakes in the Kermadec Islands.

But Soljak said an advisory on Saturday night warned of strong and unusual currents, but there was no need for a widespread evacuation for people on land. There had also already been warnings issued about strong currents because of Tropical Cyclone Cody, which warned against swimming and boating in the northeastern North Island.