Page 40 - 1821 News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Respiratory problems for people, fine ash settling down from the atmosphere and also the gases, if they're in sufficient quantities can act as an irritant and, of course, fine grit in the air could jam up machinery engines and so on. >> you know, bill, our correspondent there on the ground, chris jansing was mentioning the cut low volcano, which is the big one, apparently, in iceland. a country that has some 35 active volcanoes and apparently when this one goes, the one that we're currently experiencing that could trigter and that is what geologists are concerned about. does that bring concern...

>> reporter: what he does know is that this weekend will be tense. >> so gary, what do experts say, i mean, about how long this huge plume cloud of ash is going to be there and cause a threat? >> reporter: these experts know a lot, anderson, but they don't know enough to tell us how long it will last. usually when there are volcanos here in iceland and regularly volcanos in iceland don't last very long. but like i just told you, this volcano in 1821 lasted two years. that could be trouble. and volcanos happened in the 18th century, 9,000 people, a quarter of the population, were killed during ...

Some roads have been washed away. the reason it is relatively clear here is because we are on the west side of the volcano and the winds, which are very heavy, very cold, are blowing in this direction. the plume of ash is on the other side of this mountain blowing towards europe. if the winds change and came to the west, this would be a very bad place for us to be. that's why we are keeping a very close eye and ear on what the meteorologists have to say. we talked to police authorities here. the name of the town is hard to pronounce. it is called holmslore. the name of the volcano, i will pron...

Thought we'd be able to stand so close to the volcano, but this is it. this is where the volcano is. the volcano has erupted underneath a glacier. that's what you see. ice falls, a lot, mud, many of the farms have been flooded. some roads have been buckled. nobody has been killed, nobody has been hurt. and the reykjavik airport and three other international airports in the country all opened because of the threat of the volcano. to the east, that's where mainland europe is and that's why they're having so many problems. right now -- behind me -- here in iceland, they're used to vol contain oes...

There's a town there under a lot of ash. no one has been hurt or killed. evacuated hundreds of people in the lightly populated area. there has been significant problems with flood waters because the volcano is under a glacier and causing floods. the main highway in iceland which is national route 1, a circle road that goes around the entire country, part of that is cut off. that's a significant issue. but it's very amazing as you point out in the beginning the newscast hour. we flew into rec ka vick. it is to the west of the eyjafjallajokull, the island glacier. the last time it erupted was 18...