Iceland volcano erupts again with just ‘hours’ until lava reaches Grindavik
Lava is flowing towards an evacuated fishing town.
Yet another volcano in southwestern Iceland has erupted just weeks after the Fagradalsfjall volcano blew.
According to a live stream by Iceland’s public broadcaster, RÚV, lava began to spit out of a fissure just shy of 8am local time before erupting into towering fountains.
The country’s national weather service had earlier detected 200 earthquakes near Grindavik, a town about 32 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.
Scientists believe the eruption is taking place south-southeast of Hagafell.
‘Lava is now flowing towards [Grindavik],’ the agency said, with one expert saying it could be just ‘hours’ until the molten rocks reaches the town.
The small fishing town’s 4,000 residents had been fully evacuated last November, with only a small number of residents returning over the following weeks.
This is the fifth volcanic eruption since 2021 on the Reykjanes peninsula, the country’s most populated region where its many volcanoes had once been dormant for some 800 years.