Lava flowing from a volcano that erupted on Sunday near the Icelandic fishing port of Grindavik has engulfed at least three homes just hours after villagers were evacuated to safety, authorities said.
It was the nation’s fifth volcanic eruption in under three years.
The most recent occurred just weeks ago on Dec. 18 in the same region, southwest of the capital Reykjavik. At least three houses were engulfed in fire as glowing orange lava flowed into the edge of the town of Grindavik, live images broadcast by public television RUV showed.
Photo: Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management / AFP
“In a little village like this one, we’re like a family, we all know each other as family — it’s tragic seeing this,” resident Sveinn Ari Gudjonsson said.
“It’s unreal, it’s like watching a film,” added the 55-year-old, who works in the fishing industry.
Most of the 4,000-strong population of Grindavik had been evacuated as a precaution on Nov. 11 last year after scientists said a magma dyke was shifting beneath them.
At the time, a series of small earthquakes — sometimes hundreds per day — had created large cracks in roads, homes and buildings.
The first eruption began at 8am on Sunday when a crack opened in the ground about 450m from the town.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office at 6:45pm said that fissure measured about 900m and had crossed over the main road to Grindavik.
A second fissure opened at about midday on the edge of town, with that lava engulfing the homes. It measured about 100m by the evening, the office said.
Jets of orange lava and plumes of smoke spewed into the sky from the two cracks throughout the day.
The eruption knocked out electricity and water in Grindavik, authorities said, but airline flights were not affected.
Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir at a news conference called Sunday a “black day today for Grindavik and ... for all of Iceland, but the sun will come up again.”
Icelandic Civil Protection and Emergency Management head Vidir Reynisson said the eruption was “the most serious threat” posed by a volcanic eruption in Iceland since January 1973.
Back then, a fissure erupted just 150m from the town center of Heimaey in the Vestmann Islands, surprising locals at dawn.
One-third of homes were destroyed and the 5,300 residents were evacuated. One person died.
In a rare address to the nation, Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson said that he “hoped the situation would calm down, but anything can happen.”
Amid the uncertainty facing the town, he urged Icelanders to “stand together and have compassion for those who cannot be in their homes.”
Shortly after the Dec. 18 eruption, Grindavik residents were allowed to return for brief periods. They were authorized to return to their homes permanently on Dec. 23, but only a few dozen chose to do so.
Late on Saturday, authorities had ordered an emergency evacuation to be completed by yesterday due to growing seismic activity and its impact on the large cracks already present in the town.
On Wednesday last week, a 51-year-old Icelandic worker who was repairing a crack in a residential garden disappeared when the ground suddenly gave way beneath him.
He fell more than 30m.
The intensive search to find him was called off on Friday because the area was too dangerous.
Officials were keeping a close eye on the nearby Svartsengi geothermal plant, which provides electricity and water to the 30,000 residents of the Reykjanes Peninsula. Workers have been building a wall to protect the facility since November last year.
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