LONDON (AP) – A volcano has erupted in southwestern Iceland for the second time in less than a month, sending semi-molten rock spewing toward a nearby settlement.
The eruption just before 8 a.m. Sunday came after a swarm of earthquakes near the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The community was evacuated overnight, Iceland’s RUV television reported.
“Lava is flowing a few hundred meters north of the town, this is 400 to 500 meters,” Kristín Jónsdóttir from the Icelandic Meteorological Office told Iceland’s RUV television. “Lava flows towards Grindavik.”
Billowing smoke and flowing lava are seen in this Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management , January 14, 2024, handout image during a volcanic eruption on the outskirts of the evacuated town of Grindavik, western Iceland. (Photo by Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management / AFP) (Photo by ICELANDIC DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL PROTECTION AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT/AFP via Getty Images)
Residents of Grindavik were previously evacuated from their homes in November and had to stay away from the town for six weeks following a series of earthquakes and an eventual volcanic eruption. They were allowed to return on Dec. 22.
The town of 3,800 near Iceland’s main airport was evacuated Nov. 10 when an earthquake swarm led to cracks and openings in the earth between the town and Sýlingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa – one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions – also closed temporarily.
Billowing smoke and flowing lava are seen in this Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management , January 14, 2024, handout image during a volcanic eruption on the outskirts of the evacuated town of Grindavik, western Iceland. (Photo by Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management / AFP) (Photo by ICELANDIC DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL PROTECTION AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT/AFP via Getty Images)
In the weeks since, defensive walls had been placed around the volcano in hopes of directing the magma away from the community. But the walls of the barriers built north of Grindavik have been breached and lava is on the move toward the community, the meteorological office said.
