The evacuation comes after the region was rocked by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks, as scientists monitor a buildup of magma about five kilometers underground.
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Residents of a small Icelandic town near a volcano that is expected to erupt in the coming days or weeks had just five minutes on Monday to return to their homes and collect valuables.
Grindavik was evacuated on Saturday after experts warned that recent seismic activity suggested an eruption was imminent.
The city with 3,400 inhabitants is located on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 50 kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavik.
Authorities warned that residents would only be allowed to stay in the city during the day and said only one person per household would be allowed to return. Police also insisted that returnees only take essential items such as pets, medicines, passports and important documents.
Some sheep were also saved.
“At this point, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma could reach the surface,” the weather bureau said.
“You are so confused when you go in,” said Solveig Thorbergsdottir.
“You only have five minutes, but I stretched it to 15 and just saved what I saw. Photos of the grandchildren. Photos of myself when I was young. My best clothes, my wedding dress.”
The residents were accompanied by police officers to ensure they did not stay too long.
“So far no one has complained,” said Olafur Orvar Olafsson, the police officer in charge.
“I would understand if they weren’t happy, but that’s just the situation today.”
Police decided to evacuate Grindavik after monitoring showed that a corridor of magma, or half-molten rock, now stretches beneath the community, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.
Authorities have also raised their flight warning to orange, indicating an increased risk of a volcanic eruption. Volcanic eruptions pose a serious threat to aviation because they can send highly abrasive ash high into the atmosphere, causing engine failure, damage to flight control systems and reduced visibility.
A major outbreak in Iceland in 2010 caused widespread disruption to air travel between Europe and North America, costing airlines an estimated €2.81 billion as they canceled more than 100,000 flights.
The evacuation came after the region was rocked by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks, while scientists observed a buildup of magma about five kilometers underground.
Concerns about a possible eruption grew in the early hours of Thursday when a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck the area, forcing the internationally renowned Blue Lagoon geothermal resort to temporarily close.
The seismic activity began in an area north of Grindavik, where there is a network of 2,000-year-old craters, geology professor Pall Einarrson told Iceland’s RUV. The magma corridor is about 10 kilometers long and expanding, he said.
“It is there, under this old series of craters, that the largest earthquakes occurred, but since then it (the magma corridor) has become longer and longer, going under the urban area in Grindavík and moving even further and towards the sea,” he said.