From 12 noon, residents were allowed to enter their homes to secure the most important items or to pick up a pet that had been left behind last weekend.
There was a similar operation on Monday. Only those who had not managed to enter the city at that time were allowed to make a new attempt on Tuesday. The police checked the access road and after a while no more cars were allowed in due to the crowds.
Grindavík is located about 40 kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavik on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which has been threatened by a possible volcanic eruption for days. The approximately 3,700 residents had to leave their homes on Saturday evening because a magma tunnel of about 15 kilometers long runs under Grindavík to the seabed. The tourist attraction Blue Lagoon, a geothermal pool southwest of the capital Reykjavik, was also closed as a precaution.
The Icelandic Weather Service announced that about 700 earthquakes have occurred since midnight. The strongest had a strength of 3.1. Measurements indicated that even more magma was flowing upwards. According to calculations, the magma is only about 800 meters away from the Earth’s surface. The risk of an eruption is therefore still high.