A volcano erupts in Iceland, spewing lava toward a town near the country's main airport

a The volcano has erupted In southwest Iceland For the second time in less than a monthThis sent semi-molten rock towards a nearby settlement.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said that the eruption before 8 a.m. Sunday came after a series of earthquakes near the town of Grindavik. Icelandic TV RUV reported that the community was evacuated overnight.

“The lava is flowing a few hundred meters north of the city, that is, between 400 and 500 metres,” Kristin Jónsdóttir from the Icelandic Meteorological Office told Icelandic RUV TV. “Lava is flowing towards Grindavik.”

Residents of Grindavik They were previously evacuated from their homes in November and had to stay out of the city for six weeks after a series of earthquakes and an eventual volcanic eruption. They were allowed to return on December 22.

The town of 3,800, located near Iceland's main airport, was evacuated on November 10 when an earthquake created cracks and openings in the ground between the town and the small mountain Selinjarfell to the north. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal resort – one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions – has also been temporarily closed.

In the weeks that followed, defensive walls were placed around the volcano in hopes of channeling magma away from the community. Barrier walls built north of Grindavik have been breached, and lava is moving towards the community, the Met Office said.

Iceland, which sits above a hot volcanic region in the North Atlantic Ocean, experiences an eruption every four to five years on average. Most destructive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.