In this picture offered by Civil Protection taken from the Coast Guard’s helicopter, a view of lava because the volcano erupts close to Grindavík, Iceland, on Sunday.

Icelandic Civil Protection through AP

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Icelandic Civil Protection through AP

In this picture offered by Civil Protection taken from the Coast Guard’s helicopter, a view of lava because the volcano erupts close to Grindavík, Iceland, on Sunday.

Icelandic Civil Protection through AP

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted for the second time in less than a month on Sunday, sending lava snaking towards a close-by group and setting not less than one house on hearth.

The eruption, which started simply earlier than 8 a.m. native time, got here after authorities evacuated the city of Grindavik following a swarm of small earthquakes, the Icelandic Meteorological Office stated. Hours later, a second fissure opened close to the sting of city and lava crept towards the houses.

“We just watch it on the cameras and there’s really nothing else we can do,” resident Reynir Berg Jónsson, instructed Iceland’s RUV tv.

Grindavik is a city of three,800 individuals about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital. The group was beforehand evacuated in November following a collection of earthquakes that opened massive cracks within the earth between the city and Sýlingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The close by Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — certainly one of Iceland’s greatest vacationer sights — additionally closed quickly.

People watch from the north because the volcano erupts close to Grindavík, Iceland, on Sunday.

Marco Di Marco/AP

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Marco Di Marco/AP

People watch from the north because the volcano erupts close to Grindavík, Iceland, on Sunday.

Marco Di Marco/AP

The volcano ultimately erupted on Dec. 18, and residents have been allowed to return to their houses on Dec. 22.

In the weeks since then, defensive partitions had been constructed across the volcano in hopes of directing lava away from the group. But the partitions of the obstacles constructed north of Grindavik have been breached and lava is transferring towards the group, the meteorological workplace stated.

“This continues to surprise us,” Benedikt Ófeigsson of the meteorological workplace instructed RUV. “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.”

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic sizzling spot within the North Atlantic, averages one eruption each 4 to 5 years.

The most disruptive in latest instances was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into the environment and disrupted transatlantic air journey for months.

But Sunday’s eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula is not anticipated to launch massive quantities of ash into the air. Operations at Keflavík Airport are persevering with as regular, stated Gudjon Helgason, airport operator Isavia’s press officer.

Before final month’s eruption, the world recognized broadly as Svartsengi volcano had been dormant for round 780 years. The volcano is just some kilometers west of Fagradalsfjall, which was dormant for six,000 years earlier than flaring to life in March 2021. The newest eruption was extra highly effective than these lately.