Iceland faces ‘daunting’ period after lava from volcano destroys homes

Lava has consumed houses near Grindavík, Iceland (Icelandic Civil Protection via AP)

Iceland’s President said the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature”, after molten lava from a volcano in the island’s south-west consumed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik.

President Gudni Th Johannesson said in a televised address on Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula”, where a long-dormant volcanic system has awakened.