They've also mostly rescued all animals as well from the area, including animals in homes, along with sheep and horses in pastures.
When the volcano blows, it should only be property, building, and road damage.
When the volcano blows, it should only be property, building, and road damage.
Property and infrastructure damage is not the only outcome here. We could end up with ash fallout and flight disruptions. There's also a major power station in the immediate risk zone, which is a major loss if it gets destroyed.
If and when this blows up, it's going to be big. The question is just if it's big and causes fallout, or just big. And when we're talking about property damage, it's less damage and more "will the town be obliterated or not". The magma is most shallow under the town, and there's a 15 kilometer magma pipe extending to the ocean. So the possibility of the eruption happening in Grindavik itself is also very real.
> In response to concerns that volcanic ash ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland would damage aircraft engines, the controlled airspace of many European countries was closed to instrument flight rules traffic, resulting in what at the time was the largest air-traffic shut-down since World War II.
> On 16 April 2010, 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily scheduled passenger flights were cancelled and on the following day 16,000 of the usual 22,000 flights were cancelled. By 21 April 95,000 flights had been cancelled.
> IATA stated that the total loss for the airline industry was around US$1.7 billion (£1.1 billion, €1.3 billion).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_travel_disruption_after_th...
But the effect would be very similar. The water would vaporize and create an aerosol of ash.
Mind you, those roads in Iceland might be expensive, with luxurious built-in heating. ;-)
People had the option to get their animals, but not everyone did so. If the eruption destroys the town some animals will be among the casualties, if they haven't starved etc. already.