– It's surreal to sit and watch the lava slowly move towards the house, knowing how things will go for a long time before it catches fire, Hranar John Emilsson, who was born and raised in Grindavik, tells Dagbladet.
On Sunday, he sat with the family in their temporary home in Garabir and watched the dream home get engulfed in lava on live television.
“It's terrible to lose the house this way, after nearly three years of planning and work,” Emilson says.
House lost: Hranar John Emilson and his family. Photo: private
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He told Icelandic Radio that the house, which he and his family had spent all their free time completing in recent years, was immediately ready to move into. RÚV. For a long time it looked like the beds could be in place before Christmas, but the outbreak in November put an end to that.
Before the city was evacuated at the time, Emilsson and his family were temporarily living in one of the houses that was completely damaged by the earthquakes that struck the country on November 10, the Icelandic state channel wrote. Since then they have lived in an apartment in Garðabær.
I thought it was safe
After the earthquakes in November, not a single nail in the house moved, and the house that became the family home at Evrahope No. 19 was, in Emilsson's eyes, one of the safest places in all of Grindavik, he tells the newspaper. mask.
Several houses were seized: – Very dangerous
Instead, his house became the first of three to be swallowed up by the lava so far.
-I was supposed to move into that house. I sat and watched its destruction live, Emilson told Visir shortly after his house burned down live.
Lost: The family home in Ephrahop No. 19 was engulfed by lava and flames. However, Hranar John Emilsson hopes he can return to Grindvik one day. Photo: Björn Steinbeck/Instagram/Reuters/NTB
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– You don't know whether to smile, laugh, or laugh, you really don't know.
Emilson told Dagbladet that he believes it may be possible to return to Grindavik at some point, once the outcome of the ongoing outbreak is clarified and the security situation is examined.
– In any case, I have not ruled out the possibility of living in Grindavik in the future, but it is a discussion that the whole family should have, he says.
It was almost complete: the family's new home in Grindavik was almost complete. The hope was to move during the spring. Photo: private
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Two notches
The outbreak began on Sunday at 08:00 AM. A crack opened in the ground about 450 meters from Grindavik. Half a day later, the crack extended to a length of 900 meters and then crossed the main road to Grindavik, according to NTB.
A second fissure opened at midday on the outskirts of the city, from which lava flowed toward the settlement. This crack was about 100 meters long on Sunday evening, according to the Meteorological Institute of Iceland.
When the lava flow reached the settlement on Sunday afternoon, all residents were evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
The population of Grindavik, which usually numbers 4,000, was evacuated on Saturday evening after a series of small earthquakes served as advance warning of the coming volcanic eruption.
On Monday, the outbreak appeared to have calmed somewhat, but it was not over yet, Icelandic media wrote.
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