A volcano erupted in southwest Iceland early Sunday, sending lava flowing toward a nearby town for the second time in a few weeks, authorities said.
The eruption began north of the town of Grindavík just before 8 a.m. UTC (2 a.m. ET), the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said.
The town was evacuated on Saturday as fears of an imminent eruption rose following multiple earthquakes in the area. Barriers of earth and rock were built in recent weeks in a bid to prevent lava from reaching Grindavík, but authorities said the latest eruption has apparently breached those defenses.
“According to the first images from the coast guard’s surveillance flight, a crack has opened on both sides of the defenses that have begun to be built north of Grindavík,” the IMO said in a statement at 8:47 a.m.
“Judging by the pictures, lava is now flowing towards Grindavik. Based on measurements from the Coast Guard’s helicopter, the perimeter is now about 450 meters (1,500 feet) from the northernmost houses in the town.”
Iceland’s civil protection agency on Sunday said authorities had raised the public protection alert level to “emergency,” the highest on a three-level scale. Iceland’s President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson said on social media that the eruption posed no threat to lives.
“A new volcanic eruption began in the early morning just north of Grindavík,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “The town had already been successfully evacuated overnight and no lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat.” He said there were no interruptions to flights.
