Iceland volcano eruption in pictures as lava flow sets homes ablaze

The President of Iceland has said the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature” after a volcano erupted and molten lava consumed several houses in an evacuated fishing town.

President Gudni Th Johannesson said in a televised address that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula”, where a long-dormant volcanic system has awoken.

The volcano erupted in southwest Iceland on Sunday, with lava flows reaching the outskirts of the small fishing town of Grindavik by mid-afternoon, setting some houses alight, authorities said.

Fountains of molten rock and smoke spewed from fissures in the ground across a wide area stretching to Grindavik, where at least one house had caught fire, live video published by the Icelandic daily newspaper Morgunbladid showed.

Billowing smoke and flowing lava during an volcanic eruption on the outskirts of the evacuated town of Grindavik, western Iceland, on 14 January (Photo: Icelandic Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management / AFP/Getty)

People watch from the north as the volcano erupts near Grindavik (Photo: Marco Di Marco/AP)

Lava flows from a volcano as houses burn in Grindavik (Photo: Bjorn Steinbekk/@bsteinbekk via Instagram/Reuters)

Lava flows from the volcano as houses burn in Grindavik (Photo: Bjorn Steinbekk/@bsteinbekk via Instagram/via Reuters)

An aerial view shows lava after volcano eruption located close to Sundhnukagigar, about 4 kilometres northeast of Grindavik town of Reykjanes peninsula (Photo: Iceland Public Defence / Handout/Anadolu via Getty)

The eruption began early on Sunday north of the town, which just hours before had been evacuated for the second time.

It was first evacuated in November amid a rise in seismic activity and fears the Svartsengi volcanic system was about to erupt.

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The volcano eventually erupted on 18 December, sending lava flowing away from Grindavik. Residents were allowed to return to their homes on 22 December.

Since then, emergency workers have been building defensive walls that have stopped much of the lava flow from the new eruption short of the town.

Authorities built barriers of earth and rock in recent weeks to try to prevent lava from reaching Grindavik, some 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the capital Reykjavik, but the latest eruption have penetrated the town’s defences.

The nearby geothermal spa Blue Lagoon had closed on Sunday, it said on its website.

Lava explosions and billowing smoke are seen near residential buildings in Grindavik (Photo: Halldor Kolbeins / AFP/Getty)

In this photo provided by Civil Protection taken from the Icelandic Coast Guard’s helicopter, a view of lava as the volcano erupts (Photo: Icelandic Civil Protection /AP)

Residents of the town were evacuated for the second time in two months (Photo: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP/Getty)

On a road linking Reykjavik and Grindavik, images of spraying lava and smoke billowing over the landscape (Photo: Halldor Kolbeins / AFP/Getty)

A man adjusts his photographic equipment near Keflavik, north of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula (Photo: Sergei Gapon / AFP/Getty)

Homes on fire in Grindavik, from where 4,000 residents were evacuated in November (Photo: Bjorn Steinbekk/@bsteinbekk via Instagram/Reuters)

Additional reporting by agencies