No coolant & white smoke from engine

So I was sitting at a red light when my car suddenly beeps to let me know I have no coolant. I just refilled the coolant last week too.

Suddenly, white smoke is coming from my engine bay, so I pull over to take a look. There is coolant all over the engine bay and looks like it came from the expansion tank. Cant see any damage to the tank or hoses.

Any idea what it could be? Water pump? Gasket?

Currently waiting for a tow, but would like a general idea of whats happening since im too far from my regular mechanic to AAA it there. Thanks!

What was the reason you filled up the coolant last week and was that the only time you have done so?

Is it at all possible expansion tank cover not secured and it flowed out?

In any case if you are frequently topping up coolant its either a coolant hose, expansion tank or water pump at fault.... pray its nooo head gasket

I think the first step you should do is inspecting the intake gasket to figure out where is the problem. When you identify the main causing white smoke from exhaust, it would be easier to fix/replace it yourself or take to the garage. You may find this article helpful: https://carfromjapan.com/article/car-maintenance/white-smoke-from-exhaust/

I'm no certified mechanic but sounds to me like your head gasket is shot

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Doesn't sound like a headgasket at all. They seem very robust on these engines you rarely hear of any failures. Plus he said just coolant sprayed all over the engine bay and smoke coming from the engine bay not exhaust.

assuming by this point this has been fixed... but, the shop can pressure test the coolant system to find the source of any leak there. hard to say any given source, if there is coolant all over the bay it could really be just about anything.

curious what the cause was here, pretty abnormal incident here.

also, +1 for the comments re: your need to top off in the first place....