Volcano erupts in Iceland, forcing another evacuation for fishing town | 24CA News
A volcano erupted in southwest Iceland on Sunday, posing an instantaneous risk to a close-by fishing city that had been evacuated over fears of an eruption, authorities mentioned.
Live streams from the positioning confirmed fountains of molten rock spewing from fissures within the floor, the intense orange lava stream glowing in opposition to the darkish sky.
The eruption started north of the city of Grindavik, which on Saturday was evacuated for a second time over fears that an eruption was imminent amid a swarm of seismic exercise, authorities mentioned.
Lava started snaking towards the group round 8 a.m. native time, following a sequence of small earthquakes, the Icelandic Meteorological Office mentioned. Hours later, a second fissure opened close to the sting of city and lava crept towards the properties. The lava set not less than one house on hearth.
Iceland in current weeks sought to construct boundaries of earth and rock to forestall lava from reaching Grindavik, however the newest eruption appeared to have penetrated the defences.
“According to the first images from the Coast Guard’s surveillance flight, a crack has opened on both sides of the defences that have begun to be built north of Grindavik,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office mentioned in a press release.
“Lava is now flowing toward Grindavik. Based on measurements from the Coast Guard’s helicopter, the perimeter is now about 450 metres from the northernmost houses in the town,” it added.
“We just watch it on the cameras and there’s really nothing else we can do,” resident Reynir Berg Jónsson advised Iceland’s RUV tv.
Grindavik is a city of three,800 folks situated about 50 kilometres southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital. The group was beforehand evacuated in November following a sequence of earthquakes that opened massive cracks within the earth between the city and Sylingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The close by Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — one in every of Iceland’s largest vacationer points of interest — additionally closed quickly.
The volcano ultimately erupted on Dec. 18, and residents have been allowed to return to their properties on Dec. 22.
More than 100 Grindavik residents had returned in current weeks earlier than Saturday’s renewed evacuation order, in response to native authorities.
Iceland’s civil safety company on Sunday mentioned it had raised its alert degree to “emergency,” the very best on a three-level scale, signalling an occasion had begun that might trigger hurt to folks, communities, property or the atmosphere on the Reykjanes peninsula.
Lying between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, two of the most important on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic sizzling spot as the 2 plates transfer in reverse instructions.
