Photos: Flights sent to assess Tonga damage after volcanic eruption

A couple looks at a damaged boat in a marina at Tutukaka, New Zealand, after waves of volcano eruption swept into the marina. An undersea volcano erupted spectacularly Saturday near the Pacific nation of Tonga, sending tsunami waves crashing across the shore and people rushing to higher ground.

The eruption sent a thick blanket of ash into the sky, contaminating water supplies, cutting off communications, and initially preventing surveillance flights from assessing the extent of the damage. Above, an eruption occurs at the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai off Tonga in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.

An underwater volcano eruption off Tonga triggered a tsunami warning for several South Pacific island nations, as seen in the NOAA GOES-West satellite image taken at 05:00 GMT on January 15, 2022.

New Zealand and Australia were able to send military surveillance flights to Tonga on Monday to assess the damage a massive undersea volcanic eruption left in the Pacific island nation. Above, a damaged boat is partially submerged in a marina at Tutukaka, New Zealand.

Tsunami surge floods the area at the top of the Upper Harbor in Santa Cruz, Calif. An undersea volcano erupted Saturday near the Pacific nation of Tonga, with tsunami advisories issued for Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. Pacific coast.

People evacuate the coastline in Chile following a tsunami preventive advisory generated by local authorities, after an underwater volcano eruption on the island of Tonga, at the South Pacific, Vina del Mar, Chile.

A towering ash cloud since Saturday's eruption had prevented earlier flights. New Zealand hopes to send essential supplies, including much-needed drinking water, on a military transport plane Tuesday.

A Royal Australian Air Force P-8 Poseidon aircraft prepares to depart RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland to assess the damage to Tonga after the eruption of an underwater volcano triggered a tsunami and blanketed the Pacific island with ash, in Amberley, Australia.

Communications with Tonga remained extremely limited. The company that owns the single underwater fiber-optic cable that connects the island nation to the rest of the world said it likely was severed in the eruption and repairs could take weeks.

The loss of the cable leaves most Tongans unable to use the internet or make phone calls abroad. Those who managed to get messages out described their country as looking like a moonscape as they cleaned up from the tsunami waves and volcanic ashfall. Above, this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite, and released by the agency, shows an undersea volcano eruption in the Pacific nation of Tonga.

Tsunami waves of about 80 centimetres (2.7 feet) crashed into Tonga's shoreline, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described damage to boats and shops on Tonga's shoreline. The waves crossed the Pacific, drowning two people in Peru and causing minor damage from New Zealand to Santa Cruz, California.

A plume rises over Tonga when the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted in this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite operated by Japan Meteorological Agency.

No casualties have been reported on Tonga, although there were still concerns about people on some of the smaller islands near the volcano.

Scientists said they didn't think the eruption would have a significant impact on the Earth's climate.