Iceland volcano eruption dwell: New crack types and lava flows into homes for first time | EUROtoday

Much of the fishing city has been protected by defensive partitions which had been constructed throughout intense seismic actions final 12 months, however no less than three properties have been engulfed attributable to lava breaching obstacles north of the city, officers mentioned.

Almost 4,000 residents have been evacuated, though some cattle weren’t in a position to be moved.

Sophie Thompson and Holly Patrick report:

An professional fears the “worst-case scenario” has develop into the truth in Iceland as lava has flowed into folks’s properties for the primary time after a brand new crack shaped.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office mentioned the volcano within the southwest of the nation erupted for the second time in lower than a month on Sunday, suspecting the fissure had since pressured itself below the city of Grindavik.

A brand new crack later shaped, mentioned the forecaster, with lava flowing into the fishing city and torching no less than three properties.

When requested if the worst-case state of affairs had occurred, Benedikt Halldórsson, an professional in earthquake exercise on the Icelandic Meteorological Office, instructed The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service: “Yes, I don’t think it’s possible to imagine anything worse than it erupting in a settlement and lava flowing onto houses.”

A volcano has erupted within the Grindavík space of south west Iceland this morning (14 January), days after residents had been ordered to depart when volcanic fissures started opening on close by roads.

The order is predicted to be in place for no less than three weeks which can trigger lots of disruption, significantly as Grindavík performs house to the long-lasting Blue Lagoon vacationer attraction.

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A passenger on a airplane heading over Iceland has shared footage of the view of Grindavik’s volcano eruption from the sky.

In the footage, lava will be seen spilling down the volcano, which has since reached the evacuated city, and despatched a number of properties up in flames.

At least three homes within the fishing village of Grindavik had been destroyed in lava, authorities mentioned, including that the eruption within the fissure has largely subsided.

“It seems to us that it has almost stopped, the lava flow by these houses,” says Böðvar Sveinsson, a pure catastrophe professional on the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The eruption befell on Sunday north of the city following a collection of earthquakes close to the city of Grindavik.

The group of almost 4000 folks was evacuated in a single day, Iceland’s RUV tv reported.

A British couple on vacation in Iceland mentioned it was “alarming” to see a volcano erupting within the southwest of the nation as they travelled to the airport on Sunday.

Lorraine Crawford, 67, and her 70-year-old husband John, from Essex, took a visit to Reykjavik on Thursday together with Mr Crawford’s cousin, Michael Daltrey, and his spouse, Faye.

The group had been in a taxi on their technique to Keflavik International Airport on Sunday morning to return to the UK when Ms Crawford mentioned they noticed the erupting volcano within the distance and initially thought it was a hearth.

“It’s alarming in a way – it’s quite exciting to see something like that but then you realise that this could do quite a lot of damage,” Ms Crawford, who runs a journey company along with her husband and their daughter, instructed the PA information company.

“On the way (to the airport), we thought it was just a fire in the distance but (the taxi driver) said it was the actual volcano erupting.”

She added that they’d heard a “really loud noise” and a “really loud rumble” from the airport, however they weren’t certain what had prompted it.

Much of the lava circulation from the volcano eruption was diverted from Grindavik because of the protecting barrier dams constructed across the city, the Icelandic Met Office mentioned.

Since November, defensive partitions had been positioned across the volcano in hopes of directing the magma away from the group.

But the partitions of the obstacles constructed north of Grindavik have been breached by the lava, which engulfed no less than three homes.

“This continues to surprise us,” mentioned Benedikt Ofeigsson, a geophysicist on the Meteorological Office.

The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, certainly one of Iceland’s greatest vacationer points of interest, prolonged its closure until 16 January because of the close by volcanic eruption.

“The current eruption site is at a safe distance from Blue Lagoon,” a notice on the spa’s web site reads.

“All guests with bookings during this temporary closure period will be contacted.”

Services on the Blue Lagoon have been quickly unavailable since November, when the fishing city of Grindavik was initially evacuated following intense seismic exercise.