![Volcano erupts in Iceland. [Screenshot/BBC]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-14-at-12.04.34%e2%80%afPM-fotor-202401141276-e1705252163628.png "Volcano erupts in Iceland. [Screenshot/BBC]")
A volcano erupted Sunday morning near a town in Iceland for the second time in less than a month, spewing lava into the town and destroying homes.
Several homes were already set aflame as seen in a video showing the lava setting fire to several buildings in the town, the BBC reported.
Similarly, the RÚV, The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, shared a multi-hour and multi-location webcam of the progression of the lava from the eruption into the town.
Watch the #eruption near #Grindavík on RÚV’s four-location webcamhttps://t.co/0E71nog7tb
— RÚV English (@RuvEnglish) January 14, 2024
The 3,800 residents were already evacuated prior to the lava reaching the town, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Defensive walls were built following the volcano’s eruption on Dec. 18 to try to redirect the flow of lava, but Sunday’s eruption has breached these defenses, the outlet noted.
The machines used to work on walls managed to be saved from the lava after a “heroic” effort, RÚV English tweeted.
Heroic and successful efforts were made to save working machines close to the edge of the #lava. The machines were being used to construct defensive walls against lava flow into ##Grindavík – the same walls along which workers drove the machinery to safety. pic.twitter.com/e5BvnrbJFS
— RÚV English (@RuvEnglish) January 14, 2024
“This continues to surprise us,” Benedikt Ófeigsson, an employee of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told an Icelandic media outlet, the AP reported. “Things were slowing down after the eruption started, but about half an hour or an hour ago they started to pick up speed again. We are no longer seeing a slowdown in the town.” (RELATED: Iceland’s Coast Guard Rescues Man Stranded Near Volcanic Eruption Site)
The town’s mayor, Fannar Jonasson, was recorded by the BBC as saying that the eruption was a “big and serious shock for the population” and noting that the lava did not have to travel great distances to reach the town.
“This eruption will not affect Keflavik airport or air travel in general,” Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokesman for Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency, told CNN.
🚨 A new fissure just opened up a few meters from the outermost houses in Grindavík. This is a worst case scenario.
❤️ The strong people of Grindavík have been away from home for weeks and now have to watch from afar as their homes are threatened by the lava flow. #Grindavík pic.twitter.com/mWWdm0QLBG— Lava Centre (@LavaCentre) January 14, 2024
Iceland is no stranger to serious seismic events as 30,000 earthquakes occurred in the island nation back in November that raised the prospect of a serious volcanic eruption. Back in 2010, a major volcano erupted in Iceland that led to the cancellation of over 100,000 flights in Europe due to the dense ash cloud that had formed in the wake of the event.