A volcano has erupted near the fishing town of Grindavík in south-west Iceland – spewing fountains of molten rock, less than a month after another eruption in the area.
The latest eruption began early on Sunday morning, hours after authorities warned of an imminent event and evacuated the town following seismic activity on Saturday.
Work had begun to build barriers of earth and rock to stop lava from reaching Grindavík but it did not appear to have worked.
Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said: “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 Grindavík.
“Lava is now flowing towards Grindavík. Based on measurements from the Coast Guard’s helicopter, the perimeter is now about 450 metres (1,500ft) from the northernmost houses in the town.”
“No lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat,” President Guðni Jóhannesson said on X, adding there had been no interruptions to flights.
Iceland’s civil protection agency said on on Sunday it had raised its alert level to “emergency” , the highest on its three-point scale, indicating an event had started that could cause harm to people, property, communities or the environment.
The eruption marks the fifth on the Reykjanes peninsula since 2021. There was a powerful volcanic eruption near Grindavík on 18 December after weeks of earthquakes. The town’s 3,800 residents had already been evacuated weeks before as a precaution. More than 100 residents had returned in recent weeks, but they were evacuated on Saturday.
In a separate incident, a search was called off on Saturday for a man who was believed to have fallen into a fissure in the town. Emergency services said they had done everything they could to restrict the danger to rescuers, but it was not considered justifiable to put their lives at risk.
Iceland’s positioning between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, which move in opposite directions, make it a seismic and volcanic hot spot.
2024-01-14 06:30:32
Original from www.theguardian.com
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