“A black day” – Iceland: Lava sets fire to houses in Grindavik

This is evident from aerial photographs from the Icelandic radio station RÚV. “Today is a black day for Grindavík and today is a black day for all of Iceland. But the sun will rise again,” Jakobsdóttir said this evening at a civil protection press conference, according to RÚV. “Together we will overcome this shock, and whatever may come.”

The head of civil protection, Vídir Reynisson, said that Sunday’s events will be remembered for a long time and that we are probably only seeing the beginning of a series of such events. Icelandic President Gudni Th. Jóhannesson, in an evening address to the nation, called on his compatriots to stand ready and support the residents of Grindavík. “We Icelanders do this together. We will not give up,” he told RÚV.

The city was evacuated this weekend
The city of Grindavík, with a population of 4,000, had already been evacuated on Sunday evening when a new series of earthquakes was announced on the Reykjanes Peninsula southwest of Reykjavik. The eruption finally began at 7:57 a.m. (local time), when the first lava bubbled from an elongated fissure in the earth a few hundred meters north of Grindavík.

Just a few hours later, a veritable sea of ​​lava had formed in the area, glowing glowing red in the dawn. After a helicopter flight at RÚV in the morning, volcano expert Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson estimated that the crack in the Earth had grown to a length of over a kilometer.

This lava was already menacingly close to Grindavík. “Lava is now flowing towards the city,” warned Icelandic weather authority Vedurstofa. Authorities urged people not to think about walking to the lava. At the edge of the glowing lava, work machines that had been used to build systems to protect the coastal town from the lava were removed.

Lava set several houses on fire
Then in the afternoon hours the earth opened up in another place – right on the northern outskirts of Grindavík. From there, the glowing red lava flowed through the valley before hitting at least two houses, which then went up in flames. Since the place was evacuated, there was no danger to human life, but there was to the belongings of the affected residents.

Grindavík is located about 40 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik. The place had already been hit by the last eruption in mid-December – although not by the lava, but by several earthquakes that had heralded the eruption. The earthquakes caused deep cracks in roads and other damage.