Iceland volcano family 'numb' after watching lava engulf neighbours' homes
A family from an evacuated Icelandic town say they feel “numb” after watching lava engulf their neighbours homes - before stopping a few feet from their own.
At least three homes were destroyed after two fissures opened up in Grindavik, Iceland. The mayor of Grindavik says the volcanic eruption, the second in recent weeks, is “ominous” and “damage is already considerable”.
Experts say the cracks which first appeared in the town after earthquakes last November have now widened with magma flowing under the heart of the town.
They fear more eruptions could erupt at any time, threatening to cover even more of the town, once home to 4,000 people, in molten lava. There were 660 earthquakes in less than ten hours on Monday. Harpa Sigurdardottir, 47, told The Mirror how her brother’s home is in the line of fire.
She grew up in Grindavik, where her brother Jon Olafur Sigurdson, 48, still lives with his family a few streets away from her parents. She said: “We all feel numb. It’s all been very hard to see. My brother and his wife Iris just gave up last night when they saw how close the fissure is to their home and saw the other houses burning to the ground next door.
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Harpa Sigurdardottir said her family's home is in danger“My brother’s house is safe for now but there is still great danger and there is still inflation in the ground. We think there is smoke damage. They feel deflated and like they’ve run a marathon. They have just spent two years building the house and lived in a studio apartment for a year to get the rest done. “
She told how her brother has two teenagers and a dog and since the earthquakes began last November have been living in a rental in nearby Keflavik. My parents are staying in a bedroom at my sister’s place. They are 78 and 76 worked all their lives for what is most likely not safe to live in any more.
“The whole town is ruined. Many new cracks were formed on Sunday during the tremors before it erupted and the old cracks got bigger. There is a cave system much bigger than thought under the town and the dyke is getting wider and still sinking.
She said the Government needs to help residents with new homes. She said: “Some people I’ve heard almost hope the town goes under lava so they have a blank slate. Grindavik is a very close community and that’s what sucks the most, that everyone has been scattered all over Iceland now.”
Mum Brigitta Karadottir said: “My 12 year old daughter watches TV and she knows the people who are staying in these houses and it’s absolutely heartbreaking.” The President of Iceland, Guoni Johannesson, said it was a “black day” during a public statement.
He said: “What we all hoped would not happen has come to pass. Lava is flowing into Grindavik, a thriving town where people have built their lives, engaged in fishing and other occupations and created a community in harmony with God and one another.”
The president described the eruption, the second since “frightening” earthquakes hit the island, as a “tremendous force of nature”. And he paid his respects to the worker, Ludvik Petursson, who last week vanished into a giant crevasse.
“People of Iceland; This is not the first time we have been made to respond to a volcanic catastrophe. This month marks fifty-one years since the great eruption in Heimaey. It was the last time lava flowed over Iceland's homes…: Kristín Jónsdóttir at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said the second fissure nearest to the town had stopped spewing lava.
"We are seeing that the eruption activity has decreased quite a lot and we can clearly see that the fissure that opened at noon yesterday in the very south, it seems to have completely stopped producing lava, which is of course good news.”
But Kristín warned: "There is movement over Grindavík, which basically means that cracks may still be opening there, and there is actually a great danger there…"
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