ICELAND VOLCANO LIVE: Nation declares state of emergency and evacuates 4,000 people in build-up to expected eruption

The Foreign Office’s guidance for Iceland:

• The town of Grindavík was evacuated as a precaution.Some roads have been closed and visitors are advised to stay away from the area. Keflavik International Airport is operating as normal.
• While there is no current eruption, it is increasingly possible that one could occur.
• You should monitor local media for updates and follow the authorities advice on travel to the area.

While the volcanic eruption in 2010 grounded flights all over Europe, it is believed this potential eruption will not cause a similar ash cloud that could disrupt air travel.

The popular tourist destination in Island featuring turquoise-coloured water has announced it is extending its closure until November 30.

The Blue Lagoon as well as its geothermal spa, restaurants and surrounding hotels will also stay shut due to fears of a volcano eruption.

Fears for the future of an Icelandic fishing town are mounting as a nearby volcano threatens to erupt at any moment – with a nine-mile fissure splitting the town in half and authorities saying that increased sulphur dioxide levels have been detected.

Aerial footage shows apocalyptic scenes in the small town of Grindavik, with huge cracks appearing in roads and under buildings which were completely deserted when all 4,000 residents were told to evacuate.

Residents who were allowed to return to their homes with emergency services to collect essentials were ordered to evacuate this afternoon after the Icelandic Met Office said their meters had detected increased levels of SO2.

Icelandic Meteorological Office official Salóme Jórunn Bernhardsdóttir has said around 1,100 earthquakes have occurred since midnight.

She said seismic activity is similar to that recorded over the last few days, but there is still a possibility that new cracks will open on the surface, RUV.is reports.

‘It’s relatively consistent [levels of] seismicity. This is about eleven hundred earthquakes since midnight and the speed of this is 80 earthquakes per hour, which is similar to what we have been seeing for the last few days,’ she said.

‘It’s maybe a little slower than a few days ago, but still a similar speed, and most of these earthquakes are at a similar depth, four kilometres deep on average.

‘Most activity is confined to the intrusion and most earthquakes are four kilometres deep on average.

‘The land deformation has become more stable around the intrusion. Movements within the depression, or “valley”, show themselves at the rate of a few centimetres per day.’

Some residents who were evacuated have been allowed back to Grindavik in order to retrieve valuables, police said.

The residents will have to drive to a collection point at Grindavíkurvegur where police will pick them up in rescue squad vehicles and take them to their homes in Grindavik and back.

Only one person from each household will be allowed to enter the area as they were warned: ‘Don’t go if you don’t have to.’

• Don’t go if you don’t necessarily have to go
• Only one person will be allowed to enter the area, per household
• Write down a list of what you intend to pick up before travelling
• Remember the house key
• Remember pet cage if needed
• A bag
• Residents have a short time inside the homes
• Those who travel must not be allergic to animals because pets will be transported back
• This is exclusively for picking up important items such as pets, vital medicines and passports

The southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula has been shaken by thousands of quakes since a seismic swarm hit on October 25, with Iceland ‘on edge’ as it anticipates Fagradalsfjall, just a few kilometres from Grindavik, will erupt.

• A huge nine-mile long magma intrusion, just northwest of Grindavik, has formed and is growing, according to experts, with magma thought to be as close as 500 metres from the surface.
• Just a few days ago, experts were saying that magma was accumulating three miles below ground, but it has now risen much closer, if estimates are correct.
• ‘At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface,’ the Meteorological Office said.

Iceland’s looming volcano blast is just the beginning of a new era of volcanic eruptions that will last for centuries, with the build-up of magma beneath the coastal town of Grindavik signalling that more is to come, scientists have warned.

The Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula is threatening to erupt, with Iceland’s Met Office saying that the ‘likelihood of a volcanic eruption is high’ and could happen at anytime in the coming days.

After 800 years of inactivity, a 2021 eruption marked the start of a new cycle of volcanic activity, and now Cambridge volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, says that blast may have kicked off ‘a new eruptive phase’ which could last centuries.

‘Time’s finally up,’ Edward W. Marshall, a researcher at the University of Iceland’s Nordic Volcanological Center told Live Science. ‘We can get ready for another few hundred years of eruptions on the Reykjanes.’

For MailOnline’s full report, click the link below.

Icelandic authorities are preparing to build defence walls around a geothermal power plant in the southwestern part of the country that they hope will protect it from lava flows amid concerns about an imminent volcanic eruption.

Seismic activity and underground lava flows intensified on the Reykjanes peninsula near the capital Reykjavik over the weekend, prompting authorities to evacuate nearly 4,000 people from the fishing town of Grindavik on Saturday.

The probability of an eruption remained high despite a decrease in seismic activity, the Icelandic Meteorological Institute said.