‘It Is Spectacular!’ Stunning Images Show Massive Volcanic Eruption in Iceland
Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas reported for Fox Weather on Tuesday about the massive volcanic eruption in Iceland that forced the evacuation of a fishing village and sent lava rocketing into the air.
“We were there a month ago, actually, when they said that it was going to be an imminent volcanic eruption. There were thousands of earthquakes at the time and now that day is here. It erupted yesterday at 10:17 p.m., Iceland time, 5:17 New York time. And the images coming out of there, guys, yeah, it is spectacular!” Llenas began, adding:
It’s unbelievable. It’s not every day you get to see a live volcanic eruption like this. It is spewing from a two-and-a-half-mile-long fissure in the Earth’s surface on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland. This is the most populated part of the country. About 60% of the nation’s population lives there. They are about two and a half miles northeast of the fishing town of Grindavík. This is where this fissure is. And the town of fewer than 4,000 people was fully evacuated on November 10th as they prepared for this imminent eruption yesterday.
When it erupted during the first few hours, scientists were saying that it was spewing lava into the air some 330 feet up, and that at the first few hours of this eruption, 66,000 gallons of lava per second were coming out. Now, the intensity this morning has been coming down. We have been told it’s about a quarter of that now.
Iceland continues to monitor which way this lava is going to flow, which at this point, good news is does not appear to be heading towards Grindavík. There is a nearby geothermal power plant that powers some 30,000 households, and there is the world-famous Blue Lagoon.
“Iceland’s government has been working overtime to try to build walls to divert that lava away from these two particular places. At last check, they said those walls were 80% done. As they continue to monitor which way the lava is going to flow at this point, Iceland’s government says that this does not present any threat to life and that there are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland or any of the international routes that go over,” Llenas noted, concluding:
Actually, remember, in 2010, the volcano volcanic eruption there disrupted thousands of flights for many weeks. That does not seem to be the case this time around, and they do not expect that it will impact international travel.
Watch the full clip above via Fox Weather.
