An ash cloud that has been created from the Tonga underwater volcanic has covered some Pacific islands and is heading towards Australia and has been predicted to affect Queensland by Monday.
Areas that have been affected include, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Tonga. This will have an impact on air quality as well as air traffic. Fiji airways have been impacted the most having to cancel and delay numerous flights out of Sydney. Fiji Airways stated that it was required to cancel flights “due to hazardous operating conditions as a result of the ash cloud from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption”.
Australia and New Zealand have released surveillance flights that are assessing the damage and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, “There’s been a lot of challenges there with the ash cloud and the disruption to communications and so we are working together to get as much support to Tonga as we possibly can,” he told radio station 2GB.
