Iceland volcano erupts, spewing lava toward town near country’s main airport

A volcano has erupted in southwestern Iceland for the second time in lower than a month, sending semi-molten rock spewing towards a close-by settlement.

The eruption simply earlier than 8 a.m. Sunday got here after a swarm of earthquakes close to the city of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace stated. The group was evacuated in a single day, Iceland’s RUV tv reported.

“Lava is flowing a number of hundred meters north of the city, that is 400 to 500 meters,” Kristín Jónsdóttir from the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace advised Iceland’s RUV tv. “Lava flows in direction of Grindavik.”

Residents of Grindavik have been beforehand evacuated from their properties in November and needed to steer clear of the city for six weeks following a collection of earthquakes and an eventual volcanic eruption. They have been allowed to return on Dec. 22.

The city of three,800 close to Iceland’s foremost airport was evacuated Nov. 10 when an earthquake swarm led to cracks and openings within the earth between the city and Sýlingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The close by Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — one among Iceland’s greatest vacationer points of interest — additionally closed briefly.

Within the weeks since, defensive partitions had been positioned across the volcano in hopes of directing the magma away from the group. However the partitions of the limitations constructed north of Grindavik have been breached and lava is on the transfer towards the group, the meteorological workplace stated.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic scorching spot within the North Atlantic, averages an eruption each 4 to 5 years. Probably the most disruptive in current instances was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed big clouds of ash into the ambiance and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.