REUTERS / BJORN STEINBEKK
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- A volcano has erupted in Iceland for the second time in four weeks.
- During the eruption in the southwest of the North Atlantic island, the lava bubbling out of the earth reached the evacuated coastal town of Grindavík for the first time, and several houses were set on fire.
- According to the authorities, Monday night was quiet and no more lava escaped.
The town of Grindavík, with a population of 4,000, had already been evacuated on Sunday night when another series of earthquakes was announced on the Reykjanes Peninsula southwest of Reykjavik. The eruption finally began at 7:57 a.m. local time when the first lava bubbled out of an elongated fissure in the earth a few hundred meters north of Grindavík.
Just a few hours later, a veritable sea of lava had formed in the area, glowing glowing red in the dawn. After a helicopter flyover in the morning, volcano expert Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson estimated on radio station RÚV that the crack in the earth had grown to a length of a good kilometer.
This lava was already threateningly close to Grindavík. “Lava is now flowing towards the city,” warned the Icelandic weather authority Vedurstofa. The authorities called on people not to hike to the lava under any circumstances. At the edge of the glowing lava, work machines that had been used to build facilities to protect the coastal town from the lava were removed.
Then the earth opened up in another place in the midday hours – directly on the northern outskirts of Grindavík. From there, the glowing red lava moved down the valley before it caught at least two houses, which then burst into flames. Since the place had been evacuated, there was no danger to human life – but there was a danger to the belongings of the affected residents.
Grindavík is located around 40 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik
Grindavík is located around 40 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik. The place had already been affected by the last eruption in mid-December – although not by the lava, but by several earthquakes that had announced the eruption. The quakes caused deep cracks in roads and other damage.
A few days ago, according to Icelandic media reports, a worker allegedly fell into one of these crevices – the search for him has now been stopped without him being found.
Intense series of earthquakes
This time too, the weather authority recorded an intense series of earthquakes with more than 200 tremors before the eruption. The agency warned that magma was moving beneath the Earth’s surface and the likelihood of an eruption was high.
The last time an eruption occurred in the area was in the late evening of December 18th, when lava initially bubbled out of a fissure in the earth several kilometers long. However, the eruption, the fourth on the peninsula in three years, significantly decreased in intensity within a few days. Before Christmas, liquid lava was no longer visible on the earth’s surface.
The residents of Grindavík were ultimately able to spend the holidays in their own four walls – but with the constant uncertainty that the earth beneath them had not come to rest.
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