The big danger is that volcanic fissures could tear the Icelandic city apart without warning, local experts fear, as tourists cancel trips to the country and stunning new images of lava flows emerge

The ongoing volcanic eruption in Iceland could cause new cracks to open and tear apart the nearby town of Grindavík, experts warn. The region remains on high alert as it is uncertain what the coming days will bring.

The Reykjanes eruption, which began Monday night, signals an increased risk of volcanic fissures opening without warning in the fishing village, which is home to about 4,000 people and has been uninhabited for weeks as it has been rocked by earthquakes.

Local residents have already shared videos of their homes being torn apart. One told MailOnline that her home was sealed off and she was unable to return after the force of the quake tore it off its foundations.

Iceland’s tourism industry, fueled by attractions such as the Blue Lagoon, just a stone’s throw from the eruption, has also taken a hit, with some flights delayed and nervous holidaymakers canceling bookings and postponing their trips into the coming months.

“The future is still uncertain,” Jóhannes Þór Skúlason, the head of the Icelandic Tourism Authority, told MBL.is. “We will have to see how this outbreak develops. If the upheaval continues for some time, the impact on the tourism sector could be significant by next year.”

Meanwhile, people around the world marveled at the beautiful new images emerging from the country. Drone footage shows the steaming lava flow flowing over snow-capped mountains, revealing the vastness of the four-kilometre-long chasm.

On December 19, molten lava emerges from a fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, 3 km north of the evacuated town of Grindavik in western Iceland.

A close-up of the southern active part of the original fissure of an active volcano in Grindavik on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula

Tens of thousands of tremors have been recorded around Grindavik since a “seismic swarm” first rocked the region in late October. The Fagradalsfjall volcano threatened to erupt for weeks before an explosion occurred in Sundhnúkagíga on Monday, unleashing a much larger stream than ever before. the last few years.

Because a large magma tunnel extends beneath Grindavik, fissures can still open without warning, geophysicist Benedikt Ófeigsson told Icelandic news channel DV.

“A magma tunnel has also been created.” [underground] from which the eruption originated, and it extends considerably further south and north than the fissures themselves, and we can certainly expect them to erupt without warning, as actually happened in Fagradalsfjall,” warned Ófeigsson.

Experts will meet on Wednesday morning to assess the current situation after it was announced last night that the outbreak had weakened.

The volcano spewed so much lava that it could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 20 seconds, an expert said on Tuesday.

David Pyle, a professor of geosciences at the University of Oxford, told Live Science that earthquakes around the eruption area have now subsided, suggesting that the rift has stabilized.

“The eruption rate is probably in the range of several hundred cubic meters of lava per second — enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in about 20 seconds,” Pyle told LiveScience.

“The length of the gap may be an indication of how much magma could have accumulated in the crust in recent weeks.”

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement last night: “The lava flow is estimated to be around a quarter of what it was at the start of the eruption on December 18, and a third of the original fissure is active.”

Police said the eruption was not life-threatening and no injuries have been reported so far, although the area has been visited in droves by adventure seekers.

As locals and tourists witness the incredible night scenes first hand, authorities have warned that the darkness makes the place even more dangerous.

A drone captures the lava flow from the volcano erupting on the Reykjanes peninsula

Scientists from the University of Iceland take measurements and samples while standing on the ridge in front of the active part of the erupting fissure of an active volcano in Grindavik

The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, north of the evacuated town of Grindavik, began at around 10.17pm last night after a swarm of earthquakes, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, citing a series of smaller tremors.

At the site, which is not far from the town of Grindavik, lava rises to the surface

In this handout from the Icelandic Coast Guard during a volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula on Monday, smoke and flowing lava can be seen turning the sky orange

According to authorities, the biggest danger to people living near the volcano is volcanic fumes, which can cause breathing problems or suffocation.

Fortunately, fears that the toxic gas from the eruption could reach the Reykjanes peninsula overnight did not come true.

However, pollution has increased in parts of the peninsula, raising concerns among experts.

People are being asked to stay away from the area as smoke and ash continue to rise from the eruption.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office estimates that hundreds of cubic meters of lava per second flowed from the volcano in the first two hours after the eruption began on Monday, although it has since slowed significantly.

The lava has a temperature of about 1200 degrees Celsius (2200 degrees Fahrenheit).

The volcano last erupted in March 2021, but had been inactive for 6,000 years before that.