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Choose your plan ArrowRight The eruption between the Hagafell and Stora Skogfell mountains on the Reykjanes Peninsula began Saturday night, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
It quickly formed a 1.8-mile-long fissure in the ground, the office said.
Lava was still flowing early Sunday, and footage of the eruption was being live-streamed by RUV, Iceland’s national broadcaster.
There was no information immediately available about the scale of damage or possible casualties.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.
Photos and videos captured the night sky around Mount Hagafell and Mount Stora Skogfell turning molten orange as people watched and emergency services prepared to respond.
Initial assessments suggested the eruption was the largest of the four recent ones in the area, since swarms of earthquakes caused the Svartsengi volcanic system to awaken for the first time in almost 800 years.
AdvertisementIcelandic police declared a local state of emergency, Reuters reported.
Early Sunday, lava was flowing toward the south and southeast at a pace of about 0.62 mph, the Meteorological Office said.
If that pace continues, it said, lava could reach the ocean — which can send steam flying and, in some cases, cause explosions of lava fragments that can be dangerous to anyone nearby.
The plumes of smoke and orange hues could be seen from the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, according to photos.
Because of the volumes of magma accumulating underground, there was little warning of Saturday’s eruption before it came, the Meteorological Office said.
Share this article ShareOnce an alert was sounded, authorities moved to evacuate people from the area, according to local media, including the Blue Lagoon, one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions.
AdvertisementGrindavik, a town of nearly 4,000 people that was evacuated before the volcano’s first eruption in December, was also cleared of any residents who had returned, the Associated Press reported.
Reuters video showed patrons leaving the Blue Lagoon as sirens sounded to warn about the erupting volcano.
Evacuation sirens blasted across Grindavik on March 16 after an Icelandic volcano erupted for the fourth time since December.
(Video: Reuters)Abby Garcia, who was at the Blue Lagoon resort with friends on Saturday, told Reuters she mistook the “bright red hue in the sky” for a sunset.
Garcia said she and her friends were rushed out of the pool and put on an evacuation bus.
Another witness, Melissa Ezair, told Reuters that the evacuation went smoothly and that she “wasn’t scared.”“Some people drove cars, then others … took the bus to town.
No one seemed out of control or crying or anything.
Everybody was steady and … they prepared it very well and took good care of us to be sure we all got out okay,” Ezair said.
Photos from the Icelandic Coast Guard showed the view from a surveillance flight over the new fissure.
The closest airport, Keflavik International, remained open Sunday, and flights were not disrupted.
RUV said this eruption was not generating ash — unlike the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which shut down air traffic across Europe.
As The Washington Post reported, that explosive eruption vividly demonstrated what happens when hot lava meets freezing cold water.
Known as a phreatomagmatic eruption, the molten rock — magma — made contact with ice and meltwater and flashed to steam.
But the volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula is far from the glaciers of Iceland.
José Andrés asserted that nothing can enter Gaza “without Israel’s permission” and suggested that Israel ought to be “doing more” to get aid into the region. “.
In an attempt to provide Gaza with food and humanitarian relief, Andrés and his group, World Central Kitchen, have been coordinating efforts. The chef reaffirmed calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and urged Israel to do “more” to permit aid into the area in a “Meet the Moment” interview from NBC’s “Meet the Press.”.
He said to host Kristen Welker, “Well, I mean, nothing goes in without permission of Israel.”.
The reason Israel is targeting Gaza while attempting to free the hostages taken during the October war, he said, is “difficult to understand.”. Israel was attacked seven times.
Certainly, should Israel be taking on more. There ought to be an instant cease-fire in place. The hostages ought to be freed in full. It is a little confusing how, while on a mission to free your countrymen, you are occasionally bombing building after building that might contain hostages,” he remarked.
Hence, I wouldn’t say that this is the most cunning plan to try to get the hostages out alive if the real goal of that is to free them. Sometimes, I believe that peace ought to prevail. I firmly believe that when the people of Gaza and Palestine prosper as well, then so will the Middle East and Israel. Peace will come much more easily if everyone prospers, he continued.
He also said that even with the efforts of his organization, delivering aid to Gaza might still be a “failure.”. An aid ship carrying 200 tons of food collected by World Central Kitchen sailed for Gaza on Tuesday from Cyprus.
We’re trying, he said, and with any luck, in a few days we’ll be able to say that we had some success. Then, with everyone confident that this is feasible, we can construct a larger system to regularly bring enormous amounts of food into Gaza.
The food delivery via sea was made a few days after President Biden declared the U. s. would construct a makeshift port on Gaza’s shore in order to expand aid distribution. Up to 1,000 troops may be needed to assist in the construction of the temporary pier, which is still anticipated to take two months.
