:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/LCFS4MUHWBBXVKUTYHIVPT7KRI.jpg "A volcano erupts in southwest Iceland and sends lava towards a town")
LONDON (AP) — A volcano has erupted in southwestern Iceland, spewing molten rock toward a nearby town for the second time in a month.
The eruption began on Sunday morning after a series of earthquakes near the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The population was evacuated during the night, according to Icelandic television station RUV.
“The lava flows a few hundred meters north of the town, that is 400 or 500 meters,” Kristín Jónsdóttir of the Icelandic Meteorological Office told RUV. “Lava flows towards Grindavik.”
Grindavik residents were already evacuated from their homes in November and had to stay away from the town for six weeks after a series of earthquakes and a subsequent volcanic eruption. They were allowed to return on December 22.
Iceland, which sits above an area of high volcanic activity in the North Atlantic, averages one eruption every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which ejected huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and caused widespread closures of airspace in Europe.