Aerial photos released by the New Zealand Defense Force from Tonga’s central Ha’apai islands show trees, homes and fields coated in gray ash — spewed out by the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai undersea volcano as it erupted on Saturday, sending tsunami waves crashing across the Pacific.
Satellite images show a similar scene in the capital’s Kolofo’ou district, on Tonga’s main island, with trees and homes completely blanketed by volcanic debris. Some buildings appear to have collapsed and aid workers are now concerned about water contamination and food security in the district.
BEFORE AND AFTER: Satellite images of the main port in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, show the impact of the huge volcanic eruption and tsunami.
But as Tonga’s first deaths from the natural disaster were confirmed and rescue operations continued, aid workers warned the true scale of destruction remains unknown. Communications have been severely affected by the disaster — with some smaller islands completely cut off.
Alexander Matheou, director of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said that in addition to the ash, there is “large-scale coastal damage as a result of the tsunami wave.”
“We are concerned especially for those low-lying islands close to the eruption itself,” he added. “At the moment, we know very little.”
The delivery of humanitarian aid to the country has been hampered by ashfall covering the runway of the capital’s airport, according to officials from several donor countries.
New Zealand will deploy two Royal Navy ships to its fellow Pacific Island nation on Tuesday, the country’s minister of defence, Peeni Henare, said in a statement, adding they would take three days to reach Tonga.
The two ships — including HMNZS Wellington and HMNZS Aotearoa — will carry a Seasprite helicopter, as well as humanitarian and disaster relief supplies, Peeni said.
“Water is among the highest priorities for Tonga at this stage and HMNZS Aotearoa can carry 250,000 liters, and produce 70,000 liters per day through a desalination plant,” he added.
Significant damage has been reported across Tonga, which is home to more than 100,000 people, with the majority living on the main island of Tongatapu. At least 100 homes across the archipelago have been damaged, with at least 50 are completely destroyed, according to Save the Children Fiji CEO, Shairana Ali. But the numbers are likely to rise as rescuers work to restore communication lines, she added.
“This is a very unique type of crisis that we’re facing because of the lack of communication … the biggest challenge at this point is obtaining detailed information from officials and Tonga,” Ali said, adding they are expecting to see water shortages in the coming days.
A key underwater communication cable that connects Tonga to Fiji is damaged, with repairs not expected to begin until February 1.
“This cable is vitally important to Tonga for all of their digital connectivity to the rest of the world,” chief technology officer and vice president of operations at Southern Cross Cables, Dean Veverka, said Tuesday.
Deaths in Tonga
At least two people, including a British national, died in Tonga after tsunami waves crashed onto the roads, flooding residential communities and causing power outages.
British woman Angela Glover’s body was found after she was swept away by the tsunami, her brother, Nick Eleini, said in a statement on Monday.
Glover, 50, who lived in the capital Nuku’alofa with her husband and ran an animal welfare charity, was attempting to rescue her dogs when the waves hit, Eleini said.
“It was always Angela’s dream to swim with whales, and it was Tonga that gave her the opportunity that allowed her to fulfill these dreams,” Eleini said.
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Saturday was likely the biggest volcanic event recorded since the 1991 eruption of the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo, according to experts.
Photos and video uploaded to social media in the immediate aftermath showed people running away from the sweeping tsunami, and the afternoon sky already dark from the ash cloud. Boats and large boulders washed ashore in Nuku’alofa, with shops along the coast damaged.
Tsunami waves were felt thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Japan and on the West Coast of the United States. At least two people died in Peru due to “atypical waves,” the Peruvian National Police said on Sunday.
The volcano sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, and is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Tonga’s capital.
It had been active from December 20, but was declared dormant on January 11, according to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Thick ash on an airport runway was delaying aid deliveries to the Pacific island nation of Tonga, where significant damage was being reported days after a huge undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami.
New Zealand’s military is sending much-needed drinking water and other supplies, but said the ash on the runway will delay the flight at least a day. A towering ash cloud since Saturday’s eruption had prevented earlier flights. New Zealand is also sending two navy ships to Tonga that will leave Tuesday and pledged an initial 1 million New Zealand dollars ($680,000) toward recovery efforts.
Australia also sent a navy ship from Sydney to Brisbane to prepare for a support mission if needed.
Communications with Tonga have been extremely limited, but New Zealand and Australia sent military surveillance flights to assess the damage on Monday.
U.N. humanitarian officials and Tonga’s government “report significant infrastructural damage around Tongatapu,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“There has been no contact from the Ha’apai Group of islands, and we are particularly concerned about two small low-lying islands — Mango and Fonoi — following surveillance flights confirming substantial property damage,” Dujarric said.
New Zealand’s High Commission in Tonga also reported “significant damage” along the western coast of the main island of Tongatapu, including to resorts and along the waterfront area.
Satellite images captured the spectacular eruption, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a giant mushroom above the South Pacific. Tsunami waves of about 80 centimeters (2.7 feet) crashed into Tonga’s shoreline, and crossed the Pacific, causing minor damage from New Zealand to Santa Cruz, California. The eruption set off a sonic boom that could be heard as far away as Alaska.
Two people drowned in Peru, which also reported an oil spill after waves moved a ship that was transferring oil at a refinery.
New Zealand’s Acting High Commissioner for Tonga, Peter Lund, said there were unconfirmed reports of up to three fatalities on Tonga so far.
One death has been confirmed by family: British woman Angela Glover, 50, who was swept away by a wave.
Nick Eleini said his sister’s body had been found and that her husband survived. “I understand that this terrible accident came about as they tried to rescue their dogs,” Eleini told Sky News. He said it had been his sister’s life dream” to live in the South Pacific and “she loved her life there.”
The explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano, about 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of Nuku’alofa, was the latest in a series of dramatic eruptions. In late 2014 and early 2015, eruptions created a small new island and disrupted air travel to the Pacific archipelago.
Earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC had watched the island after a new vent began erupting in late December. Satellite images showed how drastically the volcano had shaped the area, creating a growing island off Tonga.
The U.N. World Food Program is exploring how to bring in relief supplies and more staff and has received a request to restore communication lines in Tonga, Dujarric said.
One complicating factor is that Tonga has managed to avoid outbreaks of COVID-19. New Zealand said its military staff were vaccinated and willing to follow Tonga’s protocols.
New Zealand’s military said it hoped the airfield in Tonga would be opened either Wednesday or Thursday. The military said it had considered an airdrop but that was “not the preference of the Tongan authorities.”
Communications with the island nation is limited because the single underwater fiber-optic cable that connects Tonga to the rest of the world was likely severed in the eruption. The company that owns the cable and repairs could take weeks.
Samiuela Fonua, who chairs the board at Tonga Cable Ltd., said the cable appeared to have been severed about 10 to 15 minutes after the eruption. He said the cable lies atop and within coral reef, which can be sharp.
Fonua said a ship would need to pull up the cable to assess the damage and then crews would need to fix it. A single break might take a week to repair, he said, while multiple breaks could take up to three weeks. He added that it was unclear yet when it would be safe for a ship to venture near the undersea volcano to undertake the work.
A second undersea cable that connects the islands within Tonga also appeared to have been severed, Fonua said. However, a local phone network was working, allowing Tongans to call each other. But he said the lingering ash cloud was continuing to make even satellite phone calls abroad difficult.
___
Associated Press journalist Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
The authorities closed several beaches in Peru on Sunday and warned about abnormal wave activity.
The deaths in Peru were reminiscent of the aftermath of the powerful tsunami set off by an undersea earthquake off Indonesia in December 2004 which killed more than 250,000 people. A dozen of the dead then were hit by waves on the eastern coast of Africa, in Kenya and Tanzania.
In Tonga on Sunday, many residents lost not only communication ties but power. Up to 80,000 people there could be affected, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told the BBC.
One immediate need was clear: potable water.
“The ash cloud has, as you can imagine, caused contamination,” said Ms. Ardern, the New Zealand prime minister. “That’s on top of already a challenging environment, in terms of water supply.”
New Zealand and other nations in the region pledged to give Tonga aid to recover. So did the United States. But with heavy concentrations of airborne ash making flights impossible, it was difficult even to know what was needed.
Ms. Ardern said flights over Tonga were planned for Monday or Tuesday, depending on ash conditions. New Zealand’s navy was also preparing a backup plan, should the ash remain heavy, she said.
In a post on Twitter, Antony J. Blinken, the American secretary of state, offered his condolences: “Deeply concerned for the people of Tonga as they recover from the aftermath of a volcanic eruption and tsunami. The United States stands prepared to provide support to our Pacific neighbors.”
Tonga has experienced a succession of natural disasters in recent years. In 2018, more than 170 homes were destroyed and two people killed by Cyclone Gita, a Category 5 tropical storm. In 2020, Cyclone Harold caused about $111 million in damage, including extensive flooding.
Mount Semeru, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted Saturday, shooting smoldering hot ash and volcanic gas into the airthat turned the sky dark over villages in East Java’s Lumajang district.
The death toll increased to 34 on Tuesday, the head of the task force for the management of the eruption of Mount Semeru, Infantry Col. Irwan Surbekti, said at a news conference.
On Monday, Indonesia’s National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB), said about 2,000 people had been evacuated across 19 makeshift centers.
Nearly 3,000 houses and 38 schools have been damaged by the debris, according to a statement from the Command Post for Emergency Response of Mount Semeru. The eruption also destroyed a bridge that connects Lumajang with the neighboring Malang district, blocking access from the main road and hampering rescue efforts, it added.
Maulana Ardiansyah, a volunteer from Baznas Search and Rescue team told CNN the group found three bodies — one man, one woman, and one child — submerged in cold lava in Kampung Renteng villageMonday morning.
The evacuees included hundreds of villagers who lived near a dam that burst Monday due to cold lava and heavy rain, Operational Chief of Search and Rescue I Wayan Suyatna told CNN.
He added that Monday’s search operation was forced to stop twice due to pyroclastic clouds — a mix of ash, rock and volcanic gases that can be much more dangerous than lava.
“Hot volcanic cloud is dangerous for the team safety,” Suyatna said. “The weather here is also really bad. (It is) dark and rainy.”
Video shared Monday by BNPB shows debris-filled mud stretching for milesaround the volcano. Villages are completely abandoned and vehicles remain submerged under the sludge, while thousands of trees are covered in a sheet of ashy dust.
Local resident, Hosniya, 31, told Reuters the eruption caught her by surprise.
“At first, I thought it was a bomb explosion … suddenly it was all dark, like it was going to destroy the earth,” she said.
Hosniya was evacuated with her family, but they were unable to take anything with them but their official papers, Reuters reported.
In the village of Sumberwuluh, where 16 houses were buried under ash, residents raced to evacuate their livestock on trucks Sunday. Roofs of several of the village’s houses had caved in, leaving bricks and metal rods exposed.
Aftershocks from the eruption were also felt among some residents of Kobokan and Kanjar villages late Sunday. They were later evacuated to a shelter in a nearby district.
The Indonesian government said it was preparing a relocation process for villagers who lost their home in the eruption. BNPB said it will provide them with financial aid before the government can relocate them.
Indonesia sits between two continental plates on what is known as the Ring of Fire, a band around the basin of the Pacific Ocean that leads to high levels of tectonic and volcanic activity.
In January, Mount Merapi on Java island erupted, shooting up a cloud of ash that led authorities to warn of the risk of lava reaching roads. The volcano violently erupted in 2010, killing more than 350 people.
Mount Semeru, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted Saturday, shooting smoldering hot ash and volcanic gas into the airthat turned the sky dark over villages in East Java’s Lumajang district.
At least 15 people have died and 27 others are missing, according to theCommand Post for Emergency Response of Mount Semeru. More than 1,700 peoplehad been evacuated across 19 makeshiftcenters, the group said in a statement.
Nearly 3,000 houses and 38 schools have been damaged by the debris, the statementsaid. The eruption also destroyed a bridge that connects Lumajang with the neighboring Malang district, blocking access from the main road and hampering rescue efforts, it added.
Maulana Ardiansyah, a volunteer from Baznas Search and Rescue team told CNN the group found three bodies — one man, one woman, and one child — submerged in cold lava in Kampung Renteng villageMonday morning.
The evacuees included hundreds of villagers who lived near a dam that burst Monday due to cold lava and heavy rain, Operational Chief of Search and Rescue I Wayan Suyatna told CNN.
He added that Monday’s search operation was forced to stop twice due to pyroclastic clouds — a mix of ash, rock and volcanic gases that can be much more dangerous than lava.
“Hot volcanic cloud is dangerous for the team safety,” Suyatna said. “The weather here is also really bad. (It is) dark and rainy.”
Video shared Monday by Indonesia’s National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) shows debris-filled mud stretching for milesaround the volcano. Villages are completely abandoned and vehicles remain submerged under the sludge, while thousands of trees are covered in a sheet of ashy dust.
Local resident, Hosniya, 31, told Reuters the eruption caught her by surprise.
“At first, I thought it was a bomb explosion … suddenly it was all dark, like it was going to destroy the earth,” she said.
Hosniya was evacuated with her family, but they were unable to take anything with them but their official papers, Reuters reported.
In the village of Sumberwuluh, where 16 houses were buried under ash, residents raced to evacuate their livestock on trucks Sunday. Roofs of several of the village’s houses had caved in, leaving bricks and metal rods exposed.
Aftershocks from the eruption were also felt among some residents of Kobokan and Kanjar villages late Sunday. They were later evacuated to a shelter in a nearby district.
The Indonesian government said it was preparing a relocation process for villagers who lost their home in the eruption. The BNPB said it will provide them with financial aid before the government can relocate them.
Indonesia sits between two continental plates on what is known as the Ring of Fire, a band around the basin of the Pacific Ocean that leads to high levels of tectonic and volcanic activity.
In January, Mount Merapi on Java Island erupted, shooting up a cloud of ash that led authorities to warn of the risk of lava reaching roads. The volcano violently erupted in 2010, killing more than 350 people.
Mount Aso, a tourist destination on the main southern island of Kyushu, sent plumes of ash 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) high when it erupted at about 11:43 a.m. Japan time, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
It raised the alert level for the volcano to 3 on a scale of 5, telling people not to approach, and warned of a risk of large falling rocks and pyroclastic flows within a radius of about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) around the mountain’s Nakadake crater.
Local police said there were no reports of people injured or missing as of Wednesday evening, and that 16 people who had gone hiking on the mountain earlier in the day came back safely.
Television networks broadcast images of a dark cloud of ash looming over the volcano that swiftly obscured large swathes of the mountain.
Ash falls from the 1,592-meter (5,222-foot) mountain in the prefecture of Kumamoto are expected to shower nearby towns until late afternoon, the weather agency added.
Mount Aso had a small eruption in 2019, while Japan’s worst volcanic disaster in nearly 90 years killed 63 people on Mount Ontake in September 2014.
TOKYO, Oct 20 (Reuters) – A volcano erupted in Japan on Wednesday, blasting ash several miles into the sky and prompting officials to warn against the threat of lava flows and falling rocks, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Mount Aso, a tourist destination on the main southern island of Kyushu, sent plumes of ash 3.5 km (2.2 miles) high when it erupted at about 11:43 a.m. (0243 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
It raised the alert level for the volcano to 3 on a scale of 5, telling people not to approach, and warned of a risk of large falling rocks and pyroclastic flows within a radius of about 1 km (0.6 mile) around the mountain’s Nakadake crater.
The government is checking to determine the status of a number of climbers on the mountain at the time, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters, but added that there were no reports of casualties.
Television networks broadcast images of a dark cloud of ash looming over the volcano that swiftly obscured large swathes of the mountain.
Ash falls from the 1,592-metre (5,222-foot) mountain in the prefecture of Kumamoto are expected to shower nearby towns until late afternoon, the weather agency added.
Mount Aso had a small eruption in 2019, while Japan’s worst volcanic disaster in nearly 90 years killed 63 people on Mount Ontake in September 2014.
Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
WWE fans may have returned to the arena on Friday night, but the Money in the Bank pay-per-view is the peak of a three-shows-in-four-nights celebration of that shift.
The seven-match card features two of the titular Money in the Bank ladder matches, with a wide variety of potential outcomes for both the eight men and eight women involved. If history is any indication, the currently announced field might not even be the lineup we ultimately see once the bell rings.
There’s also three world title matches, as Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair renew tensions over the Raw women’s championship, Roman Reigns and Edge go one-on-one for the Universal title and former WWE champion Kofi Kingston challenges current champ Bobby Lashley.
Finally, both the Raw and SmackDown men’s tag team championships will be on the line, with the SmackDown version set for the kickoff show. Follow along live throughout the night as we break everything down match by match.
Match in progress: WWE championship: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Results:
Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Nikki A.S.H. def Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Natalya, Zelina Vega and Tamina
Since she started in the WWE five years ago, Nikki Cross has often been overlooked despite consistently impressive in-ring performances.
She was seemingly sidelined into a comic relief superhero character as “Nikki A.S.H.” (Almost a Superhero) in recent weeks, but embraced the silliness. Now she’s Ms. Money in the Bank.
Cross took advantage of the chaos of six other competitors fighting atop three ladders, climbed over them and snatched the briefcase before anyone else could realize what had happened.
The highlight reel packages for the Money in the Bank and title wins for Bliss and Asuka, and the SmackDown women’s title victory of Naomi, was a great way to set the stakes and label the clear favorites in the match. It also took the spotlight off of the other five competitors and made the surprise ending all the more impactful.
The match was seemingly framed around Bliss from the start. She stood motionless — and emotionless — on top of the second rope as everyone else entered the match. As the rest of the competitors in the match scrambled outside to grab ladders, Bliss skipped around the ring, paused directly underneath it and motioned her hand upwards, as if to summon it to herself. But that was quickly forgotten as Asuka attacked her.
Liv Morgan made the first move towards the ladder as Tamina and Zelina Vega briefly held it, unfolded and aloft, until they realized what happened and let the ladder (and Morgan) fall.
Bliss seemingly utilized her spooky powers as Vega climbed a ladder and reached for the briefcase. Bliss climbed the other side, did mirrored hand movements and led Vega down the ladder without touching her. That spell was broken when Natalya powerbombed Bliss into the side of the ladder and then to the ground.
Naomi continued on that theme as she powerbombed Morgan into Vega, who was laid over a flat ladder sitting on the middle rope.
As Natalya climbed to the top of a ladder in the middle of the ring, Vega locked in a sleeper hold at the top of the ladder and then reached up, but could only get her fingertips on the briefcase. Morgan broke up the effort, and the ladder slowly tilted towards the ground.
It erupted into chaos in the middle of the ring. And Cross, who climbed a ladder on the outside, flew over the top rope and onto the other seven competitors.
UP, UP AND AWAYYYYYYYYY!#MITB #NikkiASH @NikkiCrossWWE pic.twitter.com/FNhtOqh796
— WWE (@WWE) July 19, 2021
Bliss locked in a Sister Abigail set-up for her DDT on Cross, but Natalya and Tamina, collectively the women’s tag team champions, worked together to stop Bliss and then took her out of commission with ladder shots. They then buried Bliss under a pile of ladders, and the rest of the participants joined in and built the pile higher.
Morgan tried to take advantage of the chaos. Tamina interrupted, then Morgan did a spinning head scissors to Tamina. Morgan hit a suspended Flatliner on Asuka to put her alone in the ring once more, but by the time she realized it, she and Naomi climbed the middle ladder.
Tamina and Asuka climbed a second ladder off to one side. Natalya and Vega scaled a ladder on the other side. Cross joined the middle ladder in the midst of it all, climbed over Morgan to the top and then unlatched the briefcase, becoming Ms. Money in the Bank.
What’s next: The women’s Money in the Bank briefcase has been cashed in quickly on a number of occasions, and a surprise win like this would seemingly carry more benefit if Cross continued to build tension over a long stretch. She might get more serious. She might get even sillier. But it will undoubtedly be a more compelling story than it would have been had any of the favorites won the match.
SmackDown tag team championships: The Usos def. Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio (c)
Name a better pair than The Usos being jettisoned to the kickoff show despite being more than worthy of a prime pay-per-view slot, and then stepping up and over-delivering. I’ll wait.
The now seven-time tag team champions defeated Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio to win the SmackDown tag team titles with a little bit of creativity and a lot of rule bending.
It took the crowd a while to fire up, and they struggled at times to get behind Rey and Dominik, who have largely had this run inside the Thunderdome without live fans in attendance. But the collective performances of all four participants slowly brought the crowd energy up throughout the match.
They came alive and exploded into “this is awesome” chants in the closing minutes. Jimmy Uso absorbed a 619 for his brother Jey and saved the match for his team. Then Jey superkicked and top-rope splashed Rey, which the audience thought was the end. When Rey kicked out, the energy spiked again.
Finally, in a chaotic ending, Jimmy dropped Rey face-first onto the top turnbuckle, rolled Rey up for a pinfall, and Jey added illegal leverage to Jimmy’s back by sticking his legs under the bottom rope to get the three-count.
What’s next: With the cheating finish, there’s likely to be a rematch in the short term. But for now, pending Roman Reigns’ Universal championship defense against Edge later in the night, Reigns and his family have increased their power and influence over the rest of the SmackDown roster.
Raw tag team championships: AJ Styles & Omos (c) def. The Viking Raiders
AJ Styles and Omos successfully retained the Raw tag team championships, following the most complete match of Omos’ career thus far.
Omos picked up the pinfall victory after delivering a standing choke-bomb to Erik, and then, rather than his customary one-foot cover, put all of his weight onto Erik to secure the win.
Generally, it doesn’t seem right for Styles to play the fool, even to an established tag team like The Viking Raiders. He’s a two-time WWE champion and still one of the best wrestlers in the world, with the swagger and charisma to match. That was clear as the now-returned WWE fandom largely cheered for Styles over the course of this tag title match.
Styles did take the majority of the damage in this match, bumping around like crazy as Erik and Ivar put on a strong performance of there on. But there was one particularly impressive moment when Omos threw Styles feet first over the ring, and into a hurricanrana on the outside to Erik.
Omos is still clearly raw and inexperienced, but his moveset is expanding and his presence is undeniable. He effectively hit a scoop slam and a military press over the course of the match and then closed out strong. After a Styles Clash was stifled, and the Viking Raiders hit a Viking Experience on Styles, Omos broke it up by grabbing Erik by the throat and tossing him backwards into Ivar to stop the count.
Then Omos ended the match, quickly and effectively.
What’s next: If Styles and Omos are indeed the long-term plan, start building some of the other teams up to benefit both the champions and their challengers.
Still to come:
Universal championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Edge
Raw women’s championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Big E vs. Drew McIntyre vs. John Morrison vs. Kevin Owens vs. Matt Riddle vs. Ricochet vs. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
LONDON — It might have been difficult for Ash Barty to imagine that a trip to her first Wimbledon final was just around the corner when she stopped playing at last month’s French Open with a hip injury.
Or even when she was two points from being pushed to a third set by Angelique Kerber in their semifinal at the All England Club.
Barty does not let obstacles trouble her for too long. She figures out a way. That’s why she’s ranked No. 1 and now stands one win from a second Grand Slam title after beating 2018 champion Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Thursday.
“I’ve had ups and downs and everything in between and I wouldn’t change one day or one moment or one, kind of, road that we’ve taken in my path and my journey,” said Barty, who was the 2011 junior champion at the All England Club and stepped away from tennis for almost two years starting in 2014 because of burnout. “It’s been unique. It’s been incredible. It’s been tough. There have been so many things that led to this point.”
Her opponent in Saturday’s final will be No. 8 seed Karolina Pliskova, who emerged from a power-hitting and serving display to come back to defeat No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Pliskova produced 14 aces, Sabalenka 18. The difference: Pliskova was broken just once, Sabalenka twice.
After going 0-for-8 on break points in the first set, the first set she’s dropped in six matches, Pliskova “got a bit frustrated,” she acknowledged afterward.
But she went 1-for-1 in that category in each of the last two sets.
“It was just super important to stay in the game, stay focused,” said Pliskova, whose coach, Sascha Bajin, used to work with Naomi Osaka and was Serena Williams’ hitting partner. “That’s what I did.”
Neither she nor Barty had ever been past the fourth round at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
Pliskova, a 29-year-old from the Czech Republic, was the runner-up at the 2016 US Open to three-time major champion Kerber and used to be ranked No. 1.
The 25-year-old Barty won the 2019 French Open and is currently ranked No. 1. She is the first woman from Australia to reach the title match at Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong won the trophy in 1980.
“Now to kind of give myself a chance to create some history, almost in a way that’s a tribute to her, is really exciting,” said Barty, who has been wearing an outfit intended as a tribute to Goolagong this fortnight.
Barty arrived in England not having competed since June 3, when she withdrew during her second-round match in Paris, in too much pain to continue.
“To be honest, it was going to be touch-and-go. Everything had to be spot on to give myself a chance to play pain-free and to play knowing that I could trust my body,” Barty said. “If you told me a month ago we’d be sitting in this position, I really wouldn’t have thought that we would even get close.”
On Thursday, she faced a big test in the second set, which Kerber was two points from owning when Barty served at deuce while trailing 5-2. The full-capacity crowd was backing the comeback effort for the 33-year-old German, too, with shouts of “Come on, Angie!” and “Go on, Kerber!”
But Barty steeled herself to hold there, then broke to get within 5-4 with a crosscourt forehand passing winner.
That was part of a 38-16 advantage in total winners for Barty, responsible more than anything else for her triumph. And this was remarkable: She compiled that many point-ending shots while making only 16 unforced errors.
“A great level, the best level I’ve played in quite some time,” Barty said. “Angie is an incredible competitor. She brought out the best in me today.”
It was a rather entertaining and, from point to point, rather even contest, two talented baseliners willing to try a volley, drop shot or lob when required. They were each other’s equal for long exchanges — in all, 22 points lasted at least nine strokes, with Kerber winning a dozen.
Their approaches are different, though. Kerber is a left-hander who hits flat groundstrokes and is just fine with handling foes’ low shots, often dropping a knee onto the turf to get leverage.
Barty is a righty who relies on heavy topspin for a forehand packed with power, and her slice backhand can produce tricky bounces on the grass.
She ended up with an 8-0 edge in aces and 18-9 in forehand winners.
“I was trying to playing my game,” Kerber said. “But she had always a good answer.”
“Heavy ash fall has halted the process somewhat since visibility is extremely poor,” NEMO said, adding it continues to respond “to the many challenges of the process.”
“The ash plume extended vertically to about 10 kilometers,” Prime Minister Ralph Everard Gonsalves said at a press conference on Friday.
Once there is one explosive eruption, it is likely others can occur and could continue “for days and possibly weeks,” authorities said.
The areas closest to the volcano will be affected by pyroclastic flows and surges, authorities said. Teams are collecting data to understand the pattern of eruption.
“La Soufrière Volcano erupted the second Friday in April (Friday April 13) in 1979,” NEMO said. “Four days shy of its anniversary it has again erupted on the second Friday in April (9) in 2021.”
La Soufrière is located on the largest island of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines chain.
Prime Minister Gonsalves on Thursday declared a disaster alert prompted by a change in the volcano’s eruptive activity. The island was placed on red alert, meaning an eruption was “imminent now,” NEMO said.
“Please leave the red zone immediately. La Soufrière has erupted. Ash fall recorded as far as Argyle International Airport,” it said.
On Friday, Dora James, director general of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross, told CNN the eruption sounded like a “large jet engine,” and that there was a “consistent flow of smoke” from the ash plume.
Boats and some vehicles picked up last-minute evacuees from the area shortly after the explosion, she said. James, too, evacuated from the area but is heading back to see if there is damage.
She said that phone lines are currently jammed in the area because so many people are calling to try to get news and check on anyone that may have stayed behind.
James lived through the April 1979 eruptions and remembers them well. She said that the 1979 eruptions had more fires and mushrooming of ash.
Kenton Chance, a freelance journalist, told CNN that he was about five miles away from the volcano in the town of Rosehall on St. Vincent.
“Normally, you would have a very commanding view of the volcano,” he said. “But because of the amount of ash in the air, you can’t see it.” Ash was still falling but in decreasing amounts, he said.
Chance heard rumbling from the mountain when he arrived, but it has since subsided.
Evacuation orders were put into place in about a dozen districts of St. Vincent, affecting roughly 6,000 to 7,000 people, a spokesperson for the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre, or UWI-SRC, told CNN.
While en route to Rosehall, Chance said he witnessed a number of people stopped on the side of the road, which he believes were evacuees.
He said so far he hasn’t seen reports of property damage, injuries or deaths.
