Flateyri

Flateyri is a village situated in Iceland's Westfjords. It is part of the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær and has a population of approximately 200, making it the largest settlement in Önundarfjörður.

Flateyri
Village
Location of the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær
Flateyri
Location of the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær
Coordinates: 66°03′N 23°31′W
Country Iceland
ConstituencyNorthwest Constituency
RegionWestfjords
MunicipalityÍsafjarðarbær
Population
 (1 January 2020)
 • Village267
 • Urban
208
 • Metro
59
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)
Póstnúmer
425, 426

History

Flateyri has been a trading post since 1792 and temporarily became a major whaling center in the 19th century.

On October 26, 1995, an avalanche hit the village, destroying 29 homes and burying 45 people, which resulted in 20 fatalities. Since then a deflecting dam has been built to protect the village from any further avalanches.

In the 1990s, Flateyri prospered as a fishing village, but after the 2008–2011 financial crisis hit its main fishing companies shut down, and many people left. A German fishing company has set up base in Flateyri and is currently fishing in and just out of Önundarfjörður.

The Esso gas station in Flateyri was the subject of a Belgian documentary in a series about gas stations around the world. The avalanche 1995 was also a subject of a feature documentary, 66°23 North West (The Day of The Avalanche), which premiered in a Reykjavik cinema on the 15th anniversary of the avalanche in 2010.[1]

Avalanche dam in A form in Flateyri

In September 2018, Flateyri Folk High School, a folk high school, opened,[2] the second of its kind in Iceland.[3]

On 14 January 2020, two large avalanches hit the avalanche dam above the village. The first avalanche slid down the right side of the dam and to the ocean where it caused a tsunami that hit the harbour and sank 6 of 7 boats located there. The second avalanche slid down the left side of the dam before spilling over it and hitting a house with four occupants. Three of the occupants were able to escape the house through a window, while the fourth one was rescued from the snow around 30 minutes later by ICE-SAR members.[4][5][6]

References
  1. "The Night We Never Forget". Iceland Review. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  2. Halla Ólafsdóttir (20 September 2018). "Fyrsti dagurinn í Lýðháskólanum á Flateyri". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  3. Hólmfríður Dagný Friðjónsdóttir (5 February 2018). "Vilja opna lýðháskóla á Flateyri næsta haust". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  4. Birta Björnsdóttir (15 January 2020). "Three avalanches - Emergency phase declared". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  5. Jóhann K. Jóhannsson; Kristín Ólafsdóttir; Tryggvi Páll Tryggvason (15 January 2020). "Talsvert eignatjón en engin alvarleg slys á fólki eftir þrjú „mjög stór" snjóflóð á Vestfjörðum". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  6. Freyr Rögnvaldsson (15 January 2020). "Tíu fullorðnir karlmenn grétu á sama tíma". Stundin (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 January 2020.

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