It was between 3 and 4 a.m. on Sunday January 14 when sirens rang out in the streets of Grindavik, 40 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital. A feeling of déjà vu then passed through the inhabitants who were evacuated on November 11, the date of violent earthquakes which opened the ground in two, then on December 18, shortly before the previous volcanic eruption which lasted until to December 21.
On Sunday, the hundred residents who had chosen to return home despite known and repeated risks were ordered to leave the city, as were tourists staying at the Blue Lagoon spa. A decision taken by the authorities after numerous earthquakes of magnitudes 2.5 and 3 in the preceding hours and an increasingly increased risk of a new eruption.
At around 8 a.m., the first explosion of lava, topped with a halo of pink smoke, lights up the sky and covers the summit of the Sundhnjukagigar volcano. The images from surveillance cameras broadcast by Icelandic public television are striking.
The hope of a quick return fades
A few hours later, to the north of the city, a crack appeared in the snow near the surrounding wall, built in three weeks to protect the Svartsengi geothermal power plant. “The police had tried to continue construction from the wall after the area was evacuated but it was not enough”sighs Bjarny Sigmardottir, resident of Grindavik who has taken refuge in Reykjavik.
Images posted on Instagram by photographers based in Iceland show that the lava then quickly crosses the wall by capillary action, flowing on both sides of it. At the end of the morning, the flow reached the water pipe of the geothermal power plant supplying the city with heating. “Fortunately, the entire factory was shut down as of this morning’s evacuation”comments Einar Sveinnbjörnsson, meteorologist.
Just as the worst appears to be happening in Svartsengi, a new fault emerges from the ground southwest of the town. “At midday, we saw lava appear a few dozen meters from the first houses in the city, then we witnessed the burning of one of them, then a second, explains Mr. Sveinnbjörnsson. It is very likely that others will suffer the same fate in the hours to come. »
Far from home, the residents of Grindavik are devastated and watch live on television as the lava progresses through the streets of their town. “Ours is not damaged at the moment,” testifies Bjarny Sigmardottir. “Before this new eruption, we were told that returning home might be possible in a month. Now that hope is fading. »
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