REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) 鈥 A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted for the second time in less than a month on Sunday, sending lava snaking toward a nearby community and setting at least one home on fire.
The eruption, which began just before 8 a.m. local time, came after authorities evacuated the town of Grindavik following a swarm of small earthquakes, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. Hours later, a second fissure opened near the edge of town and lava crept toward the homes.
鈥淲e just watch it on the cameras and there鈥檚 really nothing else we can do,鈥 Grindavik resident Reynir Berg J贸nsson told Iceland鈥檚 RUV television.
Grindavik is a town of 3,800 people about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland鈥檚 capital. The community was previously evacuated in November following a series of earthquakes that opened large cracks in the earth between the town and S媒lingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The nearby 鈥 one of Iceland鈥檚 biggest tourist attractions 鈥 also closed temporarily.
on Dec. 18, and to their homes on Dec. 22.
In the weeks since then, emergency workers have been building defensive walls around Grindavik, but the barriers weren鈥檛 complete and lava is moving toward the community, the meteorological office said.
Before last month鈥檚 eruption, the Svartsengi volcanic system north of Grindavik had been dormant for around 780 years. The volcano is just a few kilometers west of Fagradalsfjall, which was dormant for 6,000 years before flaring to life in March 2021.
Unlike the previous event, Saturday鈥檚 eruption at Svartsengi produced a 鈥渧ery rapid flow鈥 of lava that moved south toward Grindavik, said Krist铆n J贸nsd贸ttir of the Met Office.
鈥淟uckily, we got some warnings, so we got increased earthquake activity, and this was all communicated towards the civil protection, so the town of Grindavik was evacuated,鈥 she said.
Iceland, which sits above a , averages one eruption every four to five years.
The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into the atmosphere and disrupted trans-Atlantic air travel for months.
Sunday鈥檚 eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula isn鈥檛 expected to release large amounts of ash into the air. Operations at Keflav铆k Airport are continuing as normal, said Gudjon Helgason, airport operator Isavia鈥檚 press officer.
But Grindavik residents are closely monitoring the slowly unfolding disaster as the streams of smoking lava creep toward their homes.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 really imagine what people are going through,鈥 said Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove, a nature photographer. 鈥淭he fact that you can see this on television, the fact that you can see this on webcams, it鈥檚 a bit of a weird feeling to see a town being destroyed almost in slow motion at this point.鈥
