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The Met Office had warned for weeks that magma — semi-molten rock — was accumulating under the ground, making an eruption likely.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Blue Lagoon thermal spa, one of Iceland’s top tourist attractions, when the eruption began, national broadcaster RUV said.

No flight disruptions were reported at nearby Keflavik, Iceland’s main airport.

The eruption site is a few kilometers (miles) northeast of Grindavik, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

Grindavik was evacuated in November when the Svartsengi volcanic system awakened after almost 800 years with a series of earthquakes that opened large cracks in the ground north of the town.

on Dec. 18, sending lava flowing away from Grindavik. A that began on Jan. 14 sent lava toward the town. Defensive walls that had been bolstered after the first eruption stopped some of the flow, but several buildings were consumed by the lava.

Both eruptions lasted only a matter of days. A began Feb. 8 and petered out within hours.

RUV quoted geophysicist Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson as saying that the latest eruption is the most powerful so far.

Iceland, which sits above a , sees regular eruptions and is highly experienced at dealing with them. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.

No confirmed deaths have been reported from any of the recent eruptions, but a workman was declared missing after falling into a fissure opened by the volcano.