A volcano erupted in southwest Iceland on Sunday, posing an instantaneous menace to a close-by small fishing city though it had been evacuated earlier and no individuals had been in peril, authorities stated.
Dwell video confirmed fountains of molten rock and smoke spewing from fissures within the floor throughout a large space very near the city of Grindavik.
“No lives are in peril, though infrastructure could also be underneath menace,” Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson stated on social media website X, including there had been no interruptions to flights.
The eruption started early on Sunday north of the city, which simply hours earlier than had been evacuated for the second time since November over fears that an outbreak was imminent amid a swarm of seismic exercise, authorities stated.
Authorities constructed boundaries of earth and rock in latest weeks to attempt to forestall lava from reaching Grindavik, some 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the capital Reykjavik, however the newest eruption appeared to have penetrated the city’s defences.
“In keeping with the primary photos from the Coast Guard’s surveillance flight, a crack has opened on each side of the defences which have begun to be constructed north of Grindavik,” the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace IMO stated.
Lava was flowing in direction of the city and had come inside an estimated 450 metres (1,500 toes), the IMO stated. The close by geothermal spa Blue Lagoon had closed on Sunday, it stated on its web site.
Primarily based on move fashions, it might take the lava a number of hours to achieve Grindavik if it continued to move in direction of the city, an IMO spokesperson advised public broadcaster RUV.
“It’s in fact scary to see how shut that is to the city,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir advised every day Morgunbladid.
Volcanic hotspot
It was the second volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland in lower than one month and the fifth outbreak since 2021.
Final month, an eruption began within the Svartsengi volcanic system on Dec. 18 following the whole evacuation a month earlier of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents and the closing of the Blue Lagoon, a well-liked vacationer spot.
Greater than 100 Grindavik residents had returned in latest weeks, earlier than Saturday’s renewed evacuation order, in keeping with native authorities.
Iceland, which is roughly the dimensions of the US state of Kentucky, boasts greater than 30 lively volcanoes, making the north European island a major vacation spot for volcano tourism – a distinct segment phase that draws hundreds of thrill seekers.
In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions on the Eyafjallajokull volcano within the south of Iceland unfold over massive components of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights and forcing tons of of Icelanders to evacuate their houses.
Not like Eyafjallajokull, the Reykjanes volcano methods are usually not trapped underneath glaciers and are thus not anticipated to trigger comparable ash clouds.
Dwell video confirmed fountains of molten rock and smoke spewing from fissures within the floor throughout a large space very near the city of Grindavik.
“No lives are in peril, though infrastructure could also be underneath menace,” Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson stated on social media website X, including there had been no interruptions to flights.
The eruption started early on Sunday north of the city, which simply hours earlier than had been evacuated for the second time since November over fears that an outbreak was imminent amid a swarm of seismic exercise, authorities stated.
Authorities constructed boundaries of earth and rock in latest weeks to attempt to forestall lava from reaching Grindavik, some 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the capital Reykjavik, however the newest eruption appeared to have penetrated the city’s defences.
“In keeping with the primary photos from the Coast Guard’s surveillance flight, a crack has opened on each side of the defences which have begun to be constructed north of Grindavik,” the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace IMO stated.
Lava was flowing in direction of the city and had come inside an estimated 450 metres (1,500 toes), the IMO stated. The close by geothermal spa Blue Lagoon had closed on Sunday, it stated on its web site.
Primarily based on move fashions, it might take the lava a number of hours to achieve Grindavik if it continued to move in direction of the city, an IMO spokesperson advised public broadcaster RUV.
“It’s in fact scary to see how shut that is to the city,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir advised every day Morgunbladid.
Volcanic hotspot
It was the second volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland in lower than one month and the fifth outbreak since 2021.
Final month, an eruption began within the Svartsengi volcanic system on Dec. 18 following the whole evacuation a month earlier of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents and the closing of the Blue Lagoon, a well-liked vacationer spot.
Greater than 100 Grindavik residents had returned in latest weeks, earlier than Saturday’s renewed evacuation order, in keeping with native authorities.
Iceland, which is roughly the dimensions of the US state of Kentucky, boasts greater than 30 lively volcanoes, making the north European island a major vacation spot for volcano tourism – a distinct segment phase that draws hundreds of thrill seekers.
In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions on the Eyafjallajokull volcano within the south of Iceland unfold over massive components of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights and forcing tons of of Icelanders to evacuate their houses.
Not like Eyafjallajokull, the Reykjanes volcano methods are usually not trapped underneath glaciers and are thus not anticipated to trigger comparable ash clouds.
