A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted on Wednesday for the fifth time since December last year, spewing lava that once again threatened the coastal town of Grindavik and led to the evacuation of the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
The eruption began in the early afternoon following a series of earthquakes north of the town of 3,800 people that was largely evacuated in December last year when the volcano came to life after centuries of dormancy and put on an impressive show.
Although activity began to calm down by early evening, the eruption was estimated to be the area’s most vigorous so far, as lava shot 50m into the sky from a fissure that grew to 3.5km in length, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.
Photo: AFP / Icelandic Coast Guard / Handout
Barriers built to protect Grindavik deflected the flowing lava that cut off two of the three roads leading to town and was close to reaching the third.
“It’s a much larger volume that’s on the move right now headed for town,” Grindavik Mayor Fannar Jonasson told national broadcaster RUV. “The lava has already conquered” a lot.
Workers and anyone still in town were ordered to leave earlier in the day, police said.
The Blue Lagoon thermal spa — one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions — was evacuated before the eruption began, RUV said.
At one point, a dark plume of ash boiled up over the crater from an explosive interaction of magma hitting groundwater, scientists said.
The cloud did not rise high enough to initially pose any threat to aviation, but scientists were closely monitoring the situation, the Met Office’s Johanna Malen Skuladottir told RUV.
Grindavik, which is about 50km southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, has been threatened since a swarm of earthquakes in November last year forced an evacuation in advance of the initial Dec. 18 eruption.
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