Iceland volcano – live: Eruption threat high as workers try to shield power plant

A Grindavik resident dashed back home to collect some belongings after the town was evacuated

Kristin Maria Birgisdottir, who works for the town municipality, said on Tuesday she only had the clothes she had worn for work on the day the town was evacuated.

“I’m getting prepared in case I get a chance to visit my house and get some of my belongings,” said Birgisdottir, who has moved to a summer house with her family.

Some residents had to be driven into Grindavik in emergency responders’ cars, while most inhabitants were allowed to drive into Grindavik in their private cars accompanied by emergency personnel.

Disruption to the Svartsengi geothermal power plant will not affect supplies in Iceland’s capital.

A spokesperson for HS Orka, operator of the power plant, said the plant supplies power to the entire country, although a disruption would not affect power supply to Reykjavik.

Iceland’s justice minister Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir told state broadcaster RUV that equipment and materials that could fill 20,000 trucks were being moved to the plant.

Construction of the protective dyke around the power station was awaiting formal approval from the government.

Some 800 earthquakes were recorded in the Reykjanes peninsula on Monday alone, Iceland’s Met Office has said.

“Less seismic activity typically precedes an eruption, because you have come so close to the surface that you cannot build up a lot of tension to trigger large earthquakes,” said Rikke Pedersen, who heads the Nordic Volcanological Centre based in Reykjavik.

“It should never be taken as a sign that an outbreak is not on the way,” she said.

A nine-mile-long river of magma running beneath the Reykjanes peninsula remains active, authorities in Iceland say.

A geological expert said the river had formed “extremely quickly”  and runs through Grindavik.

“What has happened extremely quickly is we have a magma-filled crack – a very long one,” Kristin Jonsdottir, head of the Geoscience Research Department at the Icelandic Met Office, told Sky News.

“It extends over about 15km, it’s a vertical crack and it’s a really bad scenario since at the southern end, the crack goes through the town where about 3,000 people live,” she added, referring to Grindavik.

Grindavik is a small fishing town of about 3,500 people in Iceland’s southwest Reykjanes peninsula.

The town, about 5 miles south of the Blue Lagoon, a geothermic bathing spa popular with locals and tourists, was evacuated over the weekend after large cracks began to appear in roads following thousands of earthquakes across the peninsula.

The tremors have sparked fears that the Gradalsfjal volcano – about 12 miles to the north of Grindavik – could erupt after researchers discovered a 9-mile long river of magma running through the peninsula.

Icelandic authorities were on Tuesday preparing to build defence walls around a geothermal power plant in the southwestern part of the country that they hope will protect it from lava flows amid concerns of an imminent volcanic eruption.

Iceland’s Justice Minister Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir told state broadcaster RUV that a large dike has been designed to protect the Svartsengi geothermal power plant, located just over six kilometers from Grindavik, which powers around 35,000 homes across Iceland.

Equipment and materials that could fill 20,000 trucks were being moved to the plant, she said.

Construction of the protective dike around the power station was awaiting formal approval from the government. The plant produces hot and cold water and electricity for the Reykjanes peninsula.

A spokesperson for HS Orka, operator of the power plant, said that the plant supplies power to the entire country although a disruption would not impact power supply to the capital Reykjavik.

Most pets and farm animals had been rescued from Grindavik by Monday night, according to rescue charity Dyrfinna.

Almost all of the town’s 3,800 inhabitants were briefly allowed back into the town on Monday to collect valuables, pets and livestock, the Icelandic department of civil protection and emergency management said in a statement, citing local police.

As of late Monday evening, the volcanic hazard assessment in and around Grindavik was unchanged from Sunday.

As I write, the Reykjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik, is seething with seismic activity. Grindavik, a town of nearly 4,000 inhabitants, was evacuated on Saturday as experts assess the threat of a volcanic eruption.

Iceland’s main international airport, Keflavik, is just 10 miles north of the town. Yet flights are operating normally, which some may find surprising.

easyJet has said the flight en route to Iceland’s second airport, Akureyri, diverted because of a technical issue.

A spokesperson told The Independent: “easyJet can confirm that flight EZY8849 from London Gatwick to Akureyri on 14 November diverted to Edinburgh due to a technical issue. The captain performed a routine landing in accordance with standard operating procedures.

“Once at it stand engineers inspected the aircraft and it has now continued to Akureyri. We would like to apologise to all passengers for any inconvenience caused by the diversion and subsequent delay.

“The safety of its passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and easyJet operates its fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with all manufacturers’ guidelines.”

Fears an Icelandic volcano will erupt remain high as magma spreads underground and huge cracks appear in the roads of a town most at risk.

Seismic activity in southwestern Iceland decreased in size and intensity on Monday, but the risk of a volcanic eruption remained significant, authorities said. Around 900 earthquakes hit the south of the country on Monday, with tens of thousands of tremors reported in the region of Reykjanes in recent weeks.

Shocking images and footage have emerged showing roads split apart nearby, as their surfaces crack and buildings buckle under the pressure of the underground magma that has spread in recent weeks.

Experts said a nine-mile river of magma running beneath the peninsula was still active.

“All roads to Grindavik are closed and traffic on them is forbidden,” the Road Administration of Iceland wrote on Facebook, sharing footage of the damage.