by A volcanic system in southwestern Iceland erupted on Thursday, for the third time since December, with bright orange lava fountains visible from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, about 30 miles away.
The eruption occurred at 6 a.m. on a mountain ridge on the Reykjanes Peninsula, according to the country’s Meteorological Office. A significant portion of Iceland’s population, some 375,000, lives in the area, although they did not appear to be at risk.
Video taken from a Coast Guard helicopter showed a fissure estimated to be nearly two miles wide. And later in the morning, a stream of lava flowed onto the main road connecting Grindavik, a nearby fishing village, with Reykjavik.
Volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland, but the volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula were dormant for about 800 years until 2021. There have since been several eruptions and experts say the threat to the peninsula, where about 31,000 residents live in several cities, it won’t end soon.
“It’s like a water tap that is now open underground,” said Kristin Maria Birgisdottir, spokesperson for Grindavik’s mayor, adding that unless it was “closed soon,” the peninsula would experience “continuous events.”
Grindavik, a town of 3,800 that is the closest population center to the volcano, was evacuated before the volcano last erupted in January and destroyed part of the town. It remains empty, its residents displaced throughout the country and prevented from returning to their homes due to the threat of eruptions and the cracks that seismic activity has opened inside their town.
Birgisdottir said Thursday’s eruption occurred north of Grindavik and did not directly affect it, but the lava covering the road meant anyone wanting to reach the town would have to take a longer route.
The mayor, who was born and raised in Grindavik, said she had bought a house there a few months ago but could not get to it now. Residents were allowed to return in groups to check their properties and retrieve belongings, and she was given a slot Thursday morning, Birgisdottir said. Then the eruption occurred.
“We’re always waiting to be woken up from this nightmare,” he said, adding that life in recent months had felt like watching a bad movie.
Iceland’s civil defense agency said the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa that is a popular tourist destination, had been evacuated on Thursday morning.
About 40 guests of the Northern Light Inn, a hotel about a mile away, were also evacuated Thursday after authorities informed the owner of the impending eruption. Fridrik Einarsson, who has run the hotel for three decades with his sister, said it was the second evacuation in the last month and they planned to reopen once the eruption was over.
Unndor Sigurdsson, a school teacher and father of three, whose home in Grindavik was destroyed by a previous eruption, said he had seen the latest eruption while driving along the Reykjanes highway to work on Thursday morning.
But he said after watching lava consume his house last month, there wasn’t much else to feel.
“I feel numb right now,” he said.
