The eruption is said to have started north of Grindavik at eight o’clock on Sunday morning, local time. The eruption was preceded by a series of earthquakes at the Sundhnúksgíga crater during the night.
Magma is now said to be flowing under the Svartsengi power plant and out to sea. This is said to be “much closer” to Grindavik than at the eruption on 18 December.
– It is difficult to say how big the eruption will be, says Benedikt Ófeigsson, an expert on natural disasters at Iceland’s Meteorological Institute, to the state news company RÚV.
The residents have been evacuated
Residents of Grindavik must have been evacuated at four o’clock on the night of Sunday, writes RÚV. Traffic to the city is closed. Now Iceland is gearing up for another aid effort, including with the help of an aid center in the capital Reykjavik.
Grindavik is largely without electricity.