Houses in Iceland town catch fire as lava flows in

Houses in the town of Grindavik in Iceland were caught on fire because two cracks in the ground caused by a volcano.

A volcano erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula early on Sunday, and lava flowed into the nearby fishing town.

According to one expert, the eruption is turning out to be the worst possible situation, and everyone in the town is being forced to leave.

Defences made after a volcano eruption in December have somewhat stopped the lava, but some have been broken through.

The road into the town is blocked by flowing lava. On Monday, the Icelandic government said the hot liquid rock has started to flow slower.

Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson spoke to the country on live TV on Sunday night. He asked everyone to come together and show kindness to those who can’t be at home.

He said he wanted things to calm down, but anything could happen. This was reported by the AFP news agency.

A big earthquake happened before the Svartsengi volcano erupted in December. In the weeks that followed, walls were constructed around the volcano to guide the hot liquid rock away from Grindavik, where about 4,000 people live.

The Icelandic weather office said the walls were broken in some places, and now lava has reached the town and set houses and buildings on fire.

Flights were not affected by the volcano eruption, both within the country and to other countries. The aviation colour code for the Reykjanes peninsula was orange on Monday morning. This means there is an ongoing eruption but there is not a lot of ash coming out.

Flights from Keflavik Airport nearby were running as usual.

People who had gone back to live in Grindavik, in the southwest of Iceland, after the last volcano eruption, had to leave their homes again.

“Watching your house burn on TV is really hard,” said Unndpr Sigurthsson, whose family lost their home. She said her family had to leave most of their things when they were told to leave quickly, so they only had clothes and things they really needed.

Volcano expert Evgenia Ilyinskaya said on BBC Breakfast that the peninsula will probably have a lot of volcanic eruptions soon, called the New Reykjanes Fires.

Professor Ilyinskaya said that volcanic eruptions could happen every few months or once a year for many decades or even centuries.

The Reykjanes Fires were a lot of big volcanic eruptions that happened on the peninsula in the 12th Century.

Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said the government will have a meeting on Monday to talk about how to help the people who had to leave their homes.

“Today is a sad day for Grindavik and for all of Iceland, but things will get better,” she said.

“We will face this surprise together, and we will handle whatever happens next. ” We are thinking of you and sending our best wishes.

The alert level in the country is now at its highest, which means there could be a danger to people, communities, property, or the environment.

Sunday’s explosion is the fifth one to happen along the Reykjanes peninsula since 2021.

Iceland is located on a big crack in the Earth’s crust where two huge pieces of the Earth’s surface meet. Iceland has 33 volcanoes that are still active.