A tsunami alert has been issued for Australia's east coast after a massive underwater volcano erupted near Tonga in the Pacific.
Beaches have been closed from the Sunshine Coast to the New South Wales border, after a violent eruption which was seen from space and heard as far away as Alaska over 9000km away.
Although a large stretch of Queensland beaches were closed as a precautionary measure, surfers were seen out at Burleigh in large surf.
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Just before 11AM (AEST), the tsunami warning for Queensland was lifted by the Bureau of Meteorology, however alerts remained for NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island.
Last night Bondi Beach was evacuated around 10:30pm, with police and SES calling everyone off the beach and away from the ocean.
This morning Bondi Beach was briefly open, with regular surf safety flags put out out for swimmers, but the flags were soon taken down with everyone discouraged from entering the beach.
Nippers at Bondi has been cancelled, but so far no decision has been made over the possible cancellation of an Ironman series event set to take place at the Sydney beach today.
"Can I just ask everybody to please follow the instructions of the SES, of surf lifesaving," Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
"Beaches are closed, please do not swim."
The Bureau of Meteorology is monitoring potential threats, and State Emergency Services (SES) Commissioner Carlene York said she expected beaches to be closed until 4pm (AEST).
She anticipated a 1.1-metre tsunami wave recorded at Lord Howe Island would eventually hit NSW.
Lord Howe Island also experienced unusual currents and waves, according to reports.
There were reports of tsunami waves nearly one-metre high off the NSW coast at Port Kembla and near Twofold Bay.
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https://twitter.com/BOM_au/status/1482498234144948228?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwTsunami advisories were issued for New Zealand, Hawaii, Alaska and the US Pacific coast.
In the US, a tsunami surge swamped a car park in Santa Cruz, California.
All the water receded before it flooded again.
On Tonga, home to about 105,000 people, video posted to social media showed large waves washing ashore in coastal areas, swirling around homes, a church and other buildings.
Tonga's King Tupou VI was evacuated from the Royal Palace, with a convoy of police and troops rushing the monarch to a villa at Mata Ki Eua, according to reports.
Satellite images showed a huge eruption, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters.
Ash was falling from the sky in the capital of Nuku'alofa on Saturday evening and phone connections were down, Radio New Zealand reported.
The explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano was the latest in a series of dramatic eruptions.
Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC had watched the island in recent days after a new volcanic vent there began erupting in late December.
Satellite images captured by the company show how drastically the volcano had shaped the area, creating a growing island off Tonga.
