So, what do we know about this potential eruption, what are its risks, how could it affect travel and why is Iceland, an island of just 103,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles), home to so much seismic activity? If there’s an eruption, the trench is designed to prevent lava reaching the power plant, causing outages and disruption, Bjarndal said.ĭespite the seismic activity in the volcanic region between Sundhnúkur and Grindavík decreasing, the IMO said Monday that the volcanic hazard assessment in the region remains unchanged. The power plant is located next to the Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist attraction. The Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant provides electricity and geothermal water to heat houses to a population of 30,000 in the Reykjanes peninsula, city attorney for Reykjanesbaer Unnar Bjarndal said. Meanwhile, local authorities are preparing to build a protective trench around a geothermal power plant about six kilometers (four miles) from Grindavík, a spokesperson for Reykjanesbaer municipality told CNN on Tuesday. local time Tuesday, police announced they were closing the queue for cars to enter Grindavík, adding that “circumstances will be reevaluated tomorrow.” Scientists monitoring the situation, including those at the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), observed changes to the situation on Sunday that could indicate “magma is moving closer to the surface,” and concluded on Monday that “the greatest area of magma upwelling” is in an area 3.5 kilometers (two miles) northeast of Grindavík.īut after allowing some residents to return to Grindavik to gather essential belongings on Monday and Tuesday, orders for evacuation have come again, this time “for security reasons.”Īccording to Iceland’s state broadcaster RUV, Tuesday’s evacuation order was due to “an increased SO2 value” detected by the Met Office’s gas meters, referring to increased levels of sulfur dioxide in the air.Īt 2:00 p.m. Rebecca, her husband and their son love to explore Milwaukee.Iceland has declared a state of emergency and more than 3,000 residents have been urged to evacuate the small, coastal town of Grindavík as the country’s authorities anticipate the imminent eruption of a volcano in its southwestern peninsula. When Rebecca is not out reporting you will find with her family. She now works as a depth reporter taking you deeper into the stories we cover. She feels honored to be allowed into someone's home and life to understand the journey they are on. Rebecca has covered a variety of topics here in Milwaukee and loves sharing people's stories. She covered the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Air Force Thunderbirds, and was first on the scene after an EF-4 tornado hit Rochelle, Illinois.īefore Rockford, she worked at MSNBC as an executive intern where she focused mainly on political reporting.

She reported live from the London Olympics, flew with the U.S.

Her passion for storytelling and talking to people drove her to become a reporter. Rebecca started her career at the NBC station in Rockford, IL working behind the scenes producing the news.

She graduated from the University of Illinois with her bachelor's and master's degree in broadcast journalism. Rebecca Klopf is an Emmy-award winning reporter who grew up in Woodstock, Illinois, just on the other side of the Wisconsin state line.

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