Since the huge volcanic eruption in Tonga in 2022 last year, residents of Manono have been witnessing a strange phenomenon. During low tides, the sea goes out leaving the seabed dry similar to what happens before a tsunami.

This has made residents uneasy as many have taken the precaution of moving inland when that happens.

The first time this happened was on the same day the volcano erupted in Tonga which scared off some residents as they moved inland while some watched on to observe whether there would be a tsunami.

The second time it happened was yesterday (Saturday). A resident, Liaga Tiatia said she was sleeping in a spot where she could see the ocean and woke up to dry sand where the sea used to be.

"Since this happened last year, we've always been observing the ocean if it happens again and whether there will be a tsunami and just this afternoon, I woke up to that scene again, a huge dry area where the sand and the seagrass were showing and you can only see some water after the reserves," Ms. Tiatia told this newspaper in an interview on Saturday.

"It's very strange and weird because this had never happened before and some families are still traumatised by the tsunami in 2009 so if such a thing appears in front of our eyes, we get very cautious and worried for our safety, especially our children and elders."

According to Ms. Tiatia, when this first happened, they moved her grandmother to their other house inland to ensure her safety as well as her children's.

Another impact this has on the island is that there will be no transportation for two to three hours which is concerning in cases of emergencies.

Another resident, Seta Taloto had to cancel her trip to the mainland in Upolu due to this.

"I took my time in the shower and I knew that the tide was going to be low soon. Normally, boats can still operate even on low tides but to my surprise, this happened again and I waited for three hours for the tide to come back up and when it did, it was too late," she explained.

Normally on low tides, the water is only low for an hour or less but with this strange low tide, it takes two to three hours for the water to come back up according to the residents.

"Not only it's scary but it's also concerning for us because we are only a small island and we do not know now whether this will be a normal low tide in the future and we can not tell whether there will be a tsunami," Ms. Taloto decried.

"We also searched the Samoa Meteorological Office Facebook account if there is any notice on this but there was nothing."