Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management has declared a state of emergency after lava flowed through a pipe used to heat homes, causing the pipe to burst. DW writes about it, UNN reports .
Details
Rikke Pedersen, who heads the research team at the Northern Volcanological Center in Reykjavik, said more than 20,000 people have lost access to hot water. Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport also lost access to hot water, but said it was otherwise operating normally.
The Civil Protection Department urged people in the affected area to use only one small electric heater per household to avoid power outages. The restoration of hot water supply through an emergency pipeline, which is already under construction, could take several days.
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Iceland has 33 active volcanic systems, the largest number in Europe. Until March 2021, there hadn't been a single eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in eight centuries.
A volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland erupted on Thursday for the third time since December, spewing lava flows up to 80 meters high.
The last eruption in the area began on January 14 and lasted about two days. Lava flows reached the outskirts of the fishing town of Grindavik, where nearly 4,000 residents were evacuated and some houses were set on fire.