An undersea volcano erupted in spectacular fashion near the Pacific nation of Tonga on Saturday, sending large waves crashing across the shore and people rushing to higher ground.There were no immediate reports of injuries or the extent of the damage as communications with the small nation remained problematic. Video posted to social media showed large waves washing ashore in coastal areas, swirling around homes and buildings.New Zealand's military said it was monitoring the situation and remained on standby, ready to assist if asked.Satellite images showed a huge eruption. The Tonga Meteorological Services said a tsunami warning was in effect for all of Tonga. Authorities in the nearby island nations of Fiji and Samoa also issued warnings, telling people to avoid the shoreline due to strong currents and dangerous waves.The Islands Business news site reported that a convoy of police and military troops evacuated Tonga's King Tupou VI from his palace near the shore. He was among the many residents who headed for higher ground.The explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the latest in a series of spectacular eruptions.A Twitter user identified as Dr. Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau posted video showing waves crashing ashore.“Can literally hear the volcano eruption, sounds pretty violent,” he wrote, adding in a later post: “Raining ash and tiny pebbles, darkness blanketing the sky.”Earlier, the Matangi Tonga news site reported that scientists observed massive explosions, thunder and lightning near the volcano after it started erupting early Friday.The site reported that satellite images show a plume of ash 3 miles wide, along with steam and gas rising up into the air to about 12 miles. More than 1,400 miles away in New Zealand, officials were warning of storm surges from the eruption.The National Emergency Management Agency said some parts of New Zealand could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore following a large volcanic eruption.”Late Saturday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat to American Samoa appeared to have passed, although minor sea fluctuations could continue.The volcano is located about 40 miles north of the capital, Nuku’alofa. Back in late 2014 and early 2015, a series of eruptions in the area created a small new island and disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days.Tonga is home to about 105,000 people.

Watch the video above to see the stunning images of the eruption.The Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma island is continuing to expel molten lava and ash after erupting on Sunday and is likely to do so for days, the president of the Canary Islands regional government warned Monday.Angel Victor Torres added in a post on Twitter that there had been no reports of injuries or deaths so far.The Canary Islands emergency services tweeted late Sunday that 5,000 people had been evacuated from the area nearest to the eruption.That figure included 400 tourists evacuated from a hotel on La Palma and taken to a hotel on the nearby island of Tenerife, Torres told Spanish radio station SER in an interview.After a night of spectacular images of the lava illuminating the island's countryside, Torres told SER that experts believe there is still just one point of eruption from the volcano, near a "lightly populated" part of the island, which has a population of about 80,000 people.Footage from the island showed at least one highway cut by a wall of lava; local officials said some houses had been damaged.Officials have warned local residents to keep their distance from the eruption.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed solidarity with the people of La Palma in a Twitter post on Monday. She added that "we are in contact with Spanish authorities to offer any additional aid that is needed."Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has remained on La Palma, one of the smaller islands in the Canary Islands archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Morocco, after rushing there on Sunday.Following the delay of his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Sanchez and other officials on Monday toured an evacuation center. He was later able to get a closer look at the volcano and its destruction.The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute (Involcan) wrote in a statement on Facebook on Sunday that more than 25,000 earthquakes had been detected in the previous nine days around the Cumbre Vieja volcano.Spanish news reports said the last major eruption from the volcano was 50 years ago.The regional president said some 400 firefighting personnel were in place to battle any fires caused by the lava flows.Spain's Ministry of Transport tweeted that it had prohibited ships from sailing too close to the volcano because of the risks posed by lava flowing into the sea.The Canary Islands are a popular tourist destination for British, German and other European visitors.