A volcano in Iceland erupted on Sunday, after lots of of earthquakes shook the Reykjanes Peninsula, cracking open a fissure that despatched lava spewing right into a residential neighborhood for the primary time in additional than 4 many years.
The eruption occurred round 8 a.m. native time close to Hagafell, a mountain peak north of the city of Grindavik, in keeping with native information media and the nation’s civil protection company. It created a fissure within the earth greater than 3,200 toes lengthy, with glowing lava effervescent by, the authorities stated. That crack has continued to elongate within the hours since, the authorities stated.
Final month a bigger eruption threatened the city and a close-by energy plant. Whereas the eruption on Sunday was smaller, it triggered larger havoc when lava started to circulation into Grindavik, about 30 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.
Round 3 a.m. Sunday, not less than 200 earthquakes started placing the realm close to Grindavik, a fishing city of about 3,500 folks, in keeping with the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace. Hours later, a second smaller fissure, measuring about 492 toes, opened up in town’s edge. A reside broadcast on Icelandic tv confirmed fountains of lava spurting close to houses.
Inside an hour of the crack’s showing, webcam footage confirmed smoke billowing from not less than one of many bungalows in Grindavik’s northernmost neighborhoods, which had been evacuated properly earlier than the eruption. The houses had been all believed to be empty.
In Grindavik, repeated evacuations had been starting to put on on residents. The authorities first cleared out the city in November, after which did once more final month. Residents had been suggested in opposition to returning to their houses. Early on Sunday, when the authorities ordered an entire evacuation forward of the newest eruption, solely about 200 folks remained.
Residing in a short lived house in Reykjavík, a Grindavik resident, Kjartan Adolfsson, stated he and his neighbors had been dropping hope that they’d be capable of return any time quickly.
“None of us is aware of what to suppose at the moment,” Mr. Adolfsson stated.
After a forceful begin — with fountains of lava reaching 160 toes excessive — the lava circulation might nonetheless decelerate, lowering the dimensions of the harm of the bigger fissure, Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a volcanologist who advises the civil protection company, stated.
“This early,” he stated, “we don’t know what to anticipate.”
The bigger fissure cracked by limitations that had been constructed to guard the city from a lava circulation, stated Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for the protection company.
The fissure additionally ran near the Svartsengi energy plant, a geothermal facility that provides sizzling water to the whole peninsula. Emergency staff shortly prolonged an present rampart defending the ability plant and the city, avoiding catastrophe, Iceland’s public broadcaster reported.
The eruption additionally neared the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa that’s considered one of Iceland’s hottest sights. Neither the resort nor the ability plant was in rapid hazard, the authorities stated.
The newest eruption occurred alongside a row of volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula, making a glowing, winding river of lava. It has not disrupted air journey to or from Iceland, in keeping with updates from Keflavik Worldwide Airport.
Whereas volcanic eruptions usually are not unusual in Iceland, volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula had been dormant for about 800 years till 2021. Since then, 4 eruptions have occurred on the peninsula, the place about two-thirds of Iceland’s folks reside.
Earlier eruptions occurred in distant valleys, with out inflicting harm. Armann Hoskuldsson, a volcanologist, warned that the peninsula had “entered a brand new volcanic period,” with extra seismic exercise anticipated over the following decade.
“As quickly as this one ends, magma begins build up elsewhere on the peninsula,” he stated as he packed his gear and headed to the eruption website.
Andrés R. Martínez contributed reporting from Seoul.
