Iceland volcano eruption 'a shock' for evacuated American couple

Record ID: 1836442

  • Title: Iceland volcano eruption 'a shock' for evacuated American couple
  • Date: 24th August 2024
  • Summary: REYKJAVIK, ICELAND (AUGUST 23, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. TOURISTS FROM MIAMI, ANDREW AND ALE KENNEY, SAYING: ANDREW: “We were just kind of swimming around, and then the alarm goes off and it sounds, you know, like a tornado siren or like a hurricane sirens or something like that." ALE: “It’s a very loud, scary, spooky sound.” ANDREW: "And really, we didn't
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2024 04:15
  • Keywords: Grindavik blue lagoon spa eruption evacuation iceland tourists volcanic volcano
  • Location: GRINDAVIK, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
  • City: GRINDAVIK, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
  • Country: Iceland
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Europe,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA002893824082024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
    Upon arriving at southwestern Iceland’s Blue Lagoon spa on Thursday (August 22), American tourists Ale and Andrew Kenney were warned by staff that there was volcanic activity in the nearby area.
    The couple, who are currently on a nine-month long tour around the world via cruise ship, assumed it was just something that staff “have to say every day” as part of normal operations.
    After swimming in a hot spring pool for around 20 minutes, an alarm sounded, and they realised that the warning was indeed very real.
    "I turn around and literally everyone is just running out of the pool. And so we realised that moment, it was very seriously a volcano was either erupting or about to. And so we did our best to get out of the pool as fast as we could,” Ale told Reuters from Iceland’s capital on Friday (August 23).
    The Kenneys were then rushed onto a bus, from which they witnessed the stunning orange glow of the volcanic eruption as they drove away from the Reykjanes peninsula.
    “Everyone was just, like, really big-eyed, and they were just, it was more shock, like, I can't believe this is actually happening right now,” Andrew added.
    The nearby Blue Lagoon spa, which has large outdoor pools heated by geothermal energy, was evacuated late on Thursday and said it remained closed on Friday. Around 1,300 guests and staff were at the spa, Icelandic daily Morgunbladid reported.
    Lava initially flowed out of the volcano at a rate of up to 2,000 cubic meters (70,600 cubic feet) per second, making it comparable to the last eruption in May, the Nordic Volcanological Centre said. The length of the fissure in the volcano, which has erupted six times since December, expanded to 5 km (3.1 miles) during the day from 3.9 km (2.4 miles) late on Thursday, the Centre added. The flow from the volcano has since slowed.
    The meteorological office warned that wind could carry gas pollution from the eruption towards the south and southeast.
    (Production: Milan Pavicic, Monica Naime, Joseph Campbell)
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