Iceland volcano erupts as locals fear devastation from spewing lava

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A volcanic eruption in Iceland on Monday evening turned the sky orange as lava shot into the air.The eruption on Reykjanes Peninsula happened at 10.17pm local time and appears to have occurred roughly 2.4 miles from the town of Grindavik.The civil defence was put on high alert following the eruption which comes after weeks of intense earthquake activity in the area.The moment of the eruption was captured on grainy webcam footage, with a lash of light illuminating the sky.As the eruption spread, magma, or semi-molten rock, could be seen spewing along the ridge of a hill.Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s civil protection and emergency management, told the Icelandic public broadcaster RUV: “The magma flow seems to be at least a hundred cubic meters per second, maybe more.“So this would be considered a big eruption in this area at least.”On Monday night, the Icelandic Met Office said: "An eruption has started north of Grindavík.

It can be seen on webcams and seems to be located close to Hagafell, about 3 km north of Grindavík."The eruption began at 22.17 following the earthquake swarm that started around 21.

A Coast Guard helicopter will take off shortly to confirm the exact location and size of the eruption." Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. In November, police evacuated the town of Grindavik after strong seismic activity in the area damaged homes and raised fears of an imminent eruption.Iceland sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic and averages an eruption every four to five years.The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and