Volcano erupts in Iceland, flowing lava reaches fishing city

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GRINDAVIK, Iceland — A volcano erupted in southwest Iceland on Sunday, with molten lava flows reaching the outskirts of a small fishing city by midafternoon, setting some homes alight, though the city was evacuated earlier and no folks had been at risk, authorities mentioned.

Fountains of molten rock and smoke spewed from fissures within the floor throughout a large space stretching to the city of Grindavik, the place at the very least one home had caught hearth, dwell video printed by day by day Morgunbladid confirmed.

“No lives are at risk, though infrastructure could also be underneath risk,” Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson mentioned 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 mentioned.

Authorities constructed limitations of earth and rock in latest weeks to attempt to stop lava from reaching Grindavik, some 25 miles southwest of the capital Reykjavik, however the newest eruption have penetrated the city’s defenses.

The close by geothermal spa Blue Lagoon had closed on Sunday, it mentioned on its web site.

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 entire evacuation a month earlier of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents and the closing of the Blue Lagoon, a preferred vacationer spot.

Greater than 100 Grindavik residents had returned in latest weeks, earlier than Saturday’s renewed evacuation order, based on native authorities.

Iceland, which is roughly the scale of Kentucky, boasts greater than 30 energetic volcanoes, making the north European island a main 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 giant elements of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights and forcing lots of of Icelanders to evacuate their properties.

Not like Eyafjallajokull, the Reykjanes volcano programs usually are not trapped underneath glaciers and are thus not anticipated to trigger comparable ash clouds.

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