The last group of travelers that were stuck in the highland resort of Thórsmörk in south Iceland due to swelling in rivers returned home yesterday evening on a bus from Básar. Now only rangers and cabin guards are left.
Markarfljót, one of the rivers in Thórsmörk, placid on a summer’s day. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
“We are comfortable here as is always the case with people who stay here,” cabin guard in Húsadalur Klemenz Geir Klemenzson told Morgunbladid. “I believe that once people have returned home this experience will become an entertaining memory,” he added.
Last night it started raining again and the rivers resumed swelling. However, Klemenzson doesn’t expect the situation to become as severe as last weekend.
“It was very unusual. Snow had fallen on the glaciers last week but then it warmed up again so the snow melted and mixed with the rain which increased the level of water,” Klemenzson said.
“We aren’t concerned but ask people to seek information about the situation before they head off to Thórsmörk and especially before they drive into rivers,” he concluded.
Smári Sigurgrímsson is one of those who was weather-bound in Thórsmörk. He told Fréttabladid everyone had been calm about the situation, gone early to bed and waited for the next day.
According to Sigurgrímsson, rivers that barely flowed last summer had turned into 100-meter wide rivers which flowed in many different channels at one point.
Click here to read more about the consequences of the rain and storm in south Iceland.
