Volcano erupts in Iceland, forcing another evacuation for fishing town

A volcano erupted in southwest Iceland on Sunday, posing an immediate threat to a nearby fishing town that had been evacuated over fears of an eruption, authorities said.

Live streams from the site showed fountains of molten rock spewing from fissures in the ground, the bright orange lava flow glowing against the dark sky.

The eruption began north of the town of Grindavik, which on Saturday was evacuated for a second time over fears that an eruption was imminent amid a swarm of seismic activity, authorities said.

Lava began snaking toward the community around 8 a.m. local time, following a series 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. The lava set at least one home on fire.

Iceland in recent weeks sought to build barriers of earth and rock to prevent lava from reaching Grindavik, but the latest eruption appeared to have penetrated the defences.

"According to the first images from the Coast Guard's surveillance flight, a crack has opened on both sides of the defences that have begun to be built north of Grindavi­k," the Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement.

"Lava is now flowing toward Grindavi­k. Based on measurements from the Coast Guard's helicopter, the perimeter is now about 450 metres from the northernmost houses in the town," it added.

"We just watch it on the cameras and there's really nothing else we can do," resident Reynir Berg Jónsson told Iceland's RUV television.

Grindavik is a town of 3,800 people located about 50 kilometres southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland's capital. The community was previously evacuated in November following a series of earthquakes that opened large cracks in the earth between the town and Sylingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions — also closed temporarily. 

The volcano eventually erupted on Dec. 18, and residents were allowed to return to their homes on Dec. 22. 

More than 100 Grindavik residents had returned in recent weeks before Saturday's renewed evacuation order, according to local authorities.

Iceland's civil protection agency on Sunday said it had raised its alert level to "emergency," the highest on a three-level scale, signalling an event had begun that could cause harm to people, communities, property or the environment on the Reykjanes peninsula.

Lying between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, two of the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic hot spot as the two plates move in opposite directions.