by Agence France-Presse
Photo: Wikimedia Commons. REYKJAVIK—Around 800 people living near an Icelandic volcano spewing clouds of ash across Europe returned to their homes after fleeing to escape flash floods from a melting glacier atop the crater, authorities said Friday.
For the second time in two days residents quit their homes briefly Thursday evening to avoid floodwater from the melting Eyjafjallajokull glacier that covers the erupting volcano, authorities said, adding they were being cautioned to wear masks and goggles due to health risks from the ash.
“Local residents, with the exception of 20 farms, were able to return to their homes when it became clear that flood barriers had held back the flood water,” the Civil Emergency Administration said in a statement.
“There was no need for further evacuations during the night despite two additional flash floods … The flooding did however cause widespread damage,” it added.
Local Hvolsvollur police chief Kjartan Thorkelsson told AFP the situation was being closely monitored in case a new evacuation was needed.
“If we see the water level going up we can again move people quickly,” he said.
University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson predicted that the danger of flash flooding had yet to subside. “We can expect flood waves to come down from the volcano without too much notice, and the people have to adjust to that fact,” he told AFP.
People and animals had escaped harm so far in the flooded rural area, some 75 miles east of Reykjavik, but some farmland had been ruined, Thorkelsson said.
The main problem now was the massive clouds of ash still spewing from the volcano, he said.
Iceland’s second volcano eruption in less than a month has sent plumes of ash and smoke billowing more than 20,000 feet into the sky.
In the area around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier the ground was thick with toxic ash, which could cause “respiratory effects and eye irritation,” the Civil Emergency Authorities said.
“Those in affected areas should use a mask when outside and use protective goggles,” it stressed, pointing out that “the ash that is falling is composed of fine and course particles.”
The massive ash cloud which is gradually sweeping across Europe and forcing the continent’s biggest air travel shutdown since World War II contains large concentrations of fluorite, which “is considered to be of great danger for animals,” according to the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.
On the bright side, the ash was being carried in a “wet” eruption cloud, meaning it is rich in steam which absorbs a lot of pollution, according to the institute, adding that more pollution would be expected if the ashfall came from a dry eruption cloud.
According to institute’s Gudrun Larsen, thick volcanic ash was covering a wide area.
“Ashfall (as far as) 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of the volcano began at 11:00 this morning with a strong westerly wind,” she told AFP.
“We had to close roads because of the ash yesterday (Thursday),” Thorkelsson said.
Iceland’s Civil Protection Department said late Thursday ash “had fallen to the ground unevenly and sporadically, in some places in a layer up to three millimeters (0.19 inches) thick (and appeared) black to grey in color and very fine, similar to flour or sugar grains.”
According to Einarsson, there was no sign yet of the eruption tapering off and it was not possible to predict when it could end.
“The tremor that is recorded from the eruption site is now at about the same level as it was yesterday,” he said.
“We cannot say anything about the end (of the eruption), the rigor of the eruption oscillates, going up and down,” he said. “It’s a continuous eruption.”
Police chief Thorkelsson also said there was no indication when the eruption would stop.
“The last time this volcano erupted (in the 1820s), the eruption lasted 14-15 months,” he said.
Last month, the first eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier forced 600 people from their homes in the same area.
That eruption, in the Fimmvorduhals volcano next to the glacier, was the first in the area since 1823 and Iceland’s first since 2004, gushed lava for more than three weeks and ended Tuesday, hours before the second one occurred.
Experts cautioned then that eruptions near Eyjafjallajokull tend to set off the larger Katla volcano, which is considered one of the most dangerous volcanos in Iceland, and which last erupted in 1918.
So far there is no sign of activity at Katla, but geologists point out that an eruption there often follows a year or two after the smaller blasts at Eyjafjallajokull.
Einarsson said Friday a new eruption was not likely “while this one is going on,” he said.
“We don’t expect another one to appear in this volcano. The current one is relieving the pressure of the volcano,” he said.
“If the eruption stops, then we might expect it to break out in a new place,” he added.
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