The Grindavík volcano, southwest of Iceland, erupted this Sunday morning, at 7:57 local time (8:57 in Spain). The fissure has opened about 900 meters from the fishing town, which had been evacuated preventively during the early hours after a seismic swarm was detected in the area. Around 1:00 p.m. Spanish time, a second mouth opened a few meters from the urban center.
Civil Protection has activated the emergency level while the lava flows towards the population, threatening homes and infrastructure. This is the fifth eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in less than three years, and the second near Grindavík in just a month.
The first and largest of the eruptive fissures, approximately one kilometer long, has crossed the barriers that the country had been erecting in recent weeks north of Grindavík, to protect the urban center from lava in the event of an eruption. The southern end of the crack, located about 900 meters from the town, is located inside the barrier, so that the lava flows towards the town, reported the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), the body in charge of monitoring and evaluate the rash.
The second eruptive mouth has opened a few meters from Grindavík, threatening the homes located further north. The town had been evacuated during the early hours of the morning, after a series of “intense earthquakes” were detected in the area, according to the IMO, signs of an imminent eruption. As a result of preventive action, “there are no lives in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat,” announced Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the Icelandic president, on X (formerly Twitter). The Blue Lagoon resort was also evacuated in the early hours of the morning.
The pre-eruptive signals have brought forward an evacuation that was scheduled for Monday the 15th at 7:00 p.m. local time and was announced during the afternoon of Saturday, after the authorities ended the search for the worker who fell into a crack in Grindavík, and after the publication of the latest risk assessment of the area.
The Icelandic president has also highlighted that the eruption has had no effect, for now, on the country's air traffic.
The region's police have asked that citizens not approach the area of the eruption: "The area is dangerous both in terms of fissures, gas and more," they warn.
