Several houses were damaged in a mudslide caused by a burst water channel in Saudárkrókur, northern Iceland, yesterday. The damage is worth millions, but no one was harmed in the mudslide.
“I woke up when the water channel burst and saw the water hit my window,” Lúdvík Fridgeirsson, an inhabitant in Saudárkrókur, told Fréttabladid.
Fridgeirsson’s house is no longer inhabitable; the electrical intake in the basement is submerged in mud. At least six other houses were damaged and the inhabitants had to temporarily vacate their homes.
“I saw the mudslide take a tree with it and then hit a car,” said Kristján Baldursson, representative of the local magistrate. He added that he had seen people flee their homes with their children.
Nearly 40 members of emergency services, police officers and firefighters worked on removing the mud yesterday. The damage is estimated to be worth ISK millions (ISK 1 million = USD 15,000, EUR 11,000).
The water channel that burst leads from the dam in Gönguskardsárvirkjun above the town. Water streamed down the mountain slope, bringing mud with it.
