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A torrent of molten lava has swallowed up multiple houses in a fishing town in southwest Iceland after the second volcanic eruption on the island nation in less than a month.
The town of Grindavik, which had been evacuated just hours earlier, bore the brunt of the damage caused by Sunday’s early morning eruption in which a massive wave of lava burst from a pair of fissures in the ground and slowly lumbered towards the populated area.
Dramatic aerial footage of the eruption’s aftermath showed homes fully engulfed in flames, which stood no chance against the wave of bright-orange lava that enveloped the community of about 3,800 residents.
The town is located on Iceland’s Southern Peninsula about 30 miles southwest of the nation’s capital Reykjavik. Locals were previously evacuated in November when the long-dormant Svartsengi volcanic system roused from its slumber for the first time in nearly 800 years.
The resulting series of earthquakes opened multiple large cracks in the ground until the volcano erupted on Dec. 18, which spared the town as the lava flowed away from the city center. Residents were given the green light to return to their homes on Dec. 22.
This time, however, the town wasn’t so lucky, as the slow-moving lava from the first fissure flowed over the main road to Grindavik, butting up against the area’s protective walls that were built after the December eruption.
The lava from the second fissure quickly made its way towards the town, destroying several homes and leaving multiple family pets stranded, as well as 30 sheep, according to Icelandic news outlet RÚV.
In a stoic televised address Sunday, Iceland’s President Gudni Th. Johannesson said of the eruptions, “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula.”
“We don’t yet know how this eruption will unfold, but we must still take those actions that are within our power,” the president said. “We will carry on with our responsibilities and we will continue to stand together.”
There have been no known casualties of the eruption so far, but a worker is reportedly missing after falling into a fissure caused by the volcano.
Iceland, which is located atop a seismic hot spot in the North Atlantic, experiences a volcanic eruption around once every 4-5 years.
Its most memorable, and disruptive, eruption to hit the island in recent years came in 2010, when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent huge plumes of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.
The resulting cloud snarled European air travel for nearly a week, affecting 20 countries and around 10 million travelers.
By Monday scientists said the latest eruption seems to have run its course, but it remains to be seen when or even if Grindavik’s residents will be able to return home, as the lava has reportedly damaged the town’s water and electricity infrastructure.
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