ANKARA: Residents in Iceland’s coastal town of Grindavik saw their fourth volcanic eruption in the last three months, local media reported Sunday.

Lava has flowed over the Grindavikurvegur, the road between the southwestern town and the rest of the Reykjanes Peninsula, according to public broadcaster RUV, which added that the eruption started at 8.23 p.m. local time on Saturday.

The source of the current eruption is near an earlier one that occurred on Feb. 8, closer to the Stora-Skogfell mountain summit, it reported.

According to reports, the fissure is roughly 3.5 kilometers (2.17 miles) long, with lava flowing south towards the defensive wall north of Grindavik, west towards Grindavikurvegur, and to the east.

Grindavik and the nearby Blue Lagoon thermal baths were quickly evacuated, while the Keflavik Airport in the northwest and other regional airports were not impacted by the eruption and remain fully operational, added RUV.

The current eruption, closely monitored by the Icelandic Meteorological Off
ice, is “the most powerful in the current system so far,” it cited geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson as saying.

Source: Philippines News Agency