Whalsay man forced to leave Iceland home amid volcanic eruption

Alex John Polson with his wife Groa Sigurbjornsdottir at their home in Whalsay. Photo: Chloe Irvine

A man originally from Whalsay has returned home as a volcano erupts near their home in Iceland.

Alex John Polson and his wife Groa Sigurbjornsdottir live in the fishing town of Grindavik on the Southern peninsula of Iceland.

The couple had been in Germany for five weeks when earthquakes began to devastate the town and today (Tuesday) lava was just over a mile away from Grindavik following a volcanic eruption. 

“When we were in Germany we didna tyeen if we were going to have a house or no,” Mr Polson told The Shetland Times.

“It’s built to stand earthquakes but it can only stand so much.

“We’ve had folk in and it seems to look ok right now as long as the lava doesn’t start running about it, but you never tyeen.

“It was coming up 200 cubic metres a second dastreen, that’s a lot.” 

Read the full story in this week’s Shetland Times.