Reporting from the villages of East Iceland and on everything that concerns the region. Updated daily.
A brand-new, state-of-the-art Komatsu excavator has recently drawn considerable attention in Seyðisfjörður. Not so much the excavator itself, perhaps, as its highly unusual colours. It is no coincidence that the machine was delivered on Pink Day itself, 21 October, on which day, and indeed throughout the month, everyone in the country is especially encouraged to wear pink in order to…
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Four boys and all the girls attended a cooking course at Eskifjarðarskóli in the autumn of 1953. Þorsteinn Skúlason won a prize for his recipe book, and the trophy still adorns his dining table.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office has issued a yellow warning for increased risk of landslides and rockfall in Austfirðir, East Iceland as far as Glettingur, and on Tröllaskagi. The warning is in effect until noon tomorrow.
On 6 February 2024 a storm swept across the Eastfjords, and the farmers at Vattarnes were hit especially hard. In one small spot the wind intensified and caused major damage to a residential house and sheep sheds. The roof of the outbuildings was blown off in one piece and then shattered in another …
Winds will pick up around 7 pm this evening from the northwest in the Eastfjords, and gusts could reach up to 35 m/s in wind streams near mountains, for example in Hamarfjörður.
Staff at the Housing and Construction Authority (HMS) have for some time been working to estimate the property boundaries of farms across the country where no surveyed delineation exists. The authority has now published draft boundaries for a total of 1,160 farms in Northeast and East Iceland.
Two new staff members have been hired at the Tjarnarskógur preschool in Egilsstaðir, where a severe staff shortage at the start of the school year greatly limited how many children could be admitted. Everything now looks to be improving, although the preschool still needs to advertise for staff.
The mayor of Múlaþing says the addition to Loftbrú, announced yesterday by the infrastructure minister, is not what people are calling for. Not everyone can live in Reykjavík, and rural residents’ access to services must be made more equal.
We who live in East Iceland help fund the nation’s shared services just like everyone else. A large share of those services and that activity is in the capital area. Many of the state’s main institutions are there, and that is where we go to get a wide range of services, cultural events and sports activities. Residents of other parts of the country who live far from Reykjavík face a similar situation.
Jóna Árný Þórðardóttir, town and port director of Fjarðabyggð, was elected the new chair of the Icelandic Ports Association on Friday. She takes over from Lúðvík Geirsson and is the very first woman to hold the post.
The Housing and Construction Authority (HMS) has finished estimating the property boundaries of about 1,150 farms in Northeast Iceland and East Iceland. The farms cover about 20 thousand square kilometres, and with the new data, property boundaries have been estimated in areas equivalent to about 83% of Iceland’s total area.
Jóna Árný Þórðardóttir, municipal and harbour director of Fjarðabyggð, is the first woman to serve as chair of the Icelandic Ports Association (Hafnarsamband Íslands). She was elected chair at the association’s annual congress, which ended today.
Jóna Árný Þórðardóttir, town manager and port director of Fjarðabyggð, was elected chair of the Icelandic Ports Association (Hafnarsamband Íslands) at the association’s annual congress, which ended today. She is also the first woman to serve as the association’s chair.
The Friends of the Old Church in Djúpivogur association will receive an annual grant of ISK 500,000 from Múlaþing over the next five years for the running and continued restoration of the old church.
East Iceland District Court has acquitted Fjarðabyggð of a claim by Hrefna Dagbjört Arnardóttir, owner of the farm Óseyri in Stöðvarfjörður, for recognition of the municipality’s liability for damages over livestock trespassing on the farm. Legal costs were waived. Hrefna demanded …
Little has changed in veterinary staffing in the southeast of the country. Shifts have not been filled since 16 August, all the way from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Breiðdalsvík. The government has done nothing, says the chair of the veterinarians’ association.
The ptarmigan hunting season starts tomorrow in all parts of the country. Hunting is permitted from Friday through Tuesday for just under a month, or until Christmas where the season is longest. In South Iceland and Northwest Iceland hunting is allowed until 17 November, in the Westfjords a week longer, until 1 December in West Iceland and Northwest Iceland, and until 22 December in East Iceland. The ptarmigan population is considered strongest there. Hunting…
Support for the Social Democratic Alliance in the Northeast constituency jumps in a new opinion poll. The support the Independence Party gained over the summer is reversed. Four parties are polling enough to win seats in the constituency.
Plans to merge the police districts of East Iceland, South Iceland and the Westman Islands raise serious questions about residents’ safety and the management of policing. Before going any further, the government must show how the changes are meant to improve services here in the east. A larger district is no guarantee of stronger policing.
The person charged with smuggling almost 43 kilos of cocaine, found in their car on arrival in Seyðisfjörður in March, said at the main hearing of the case today that they were none the wiser about the substances found. They could offer no explanation of how such a large quantity came to be carefully hidden in their van. At the time this was by far the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Iceland, but the strength…
Gunnar Lárus Karlsson, who broke the Icelandic record in backyard ultra running in style, was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived home in Reyðarfjörður this morning.
The owner of the Óseyri farm near Stöðvarfjörður says all unfenced land in Iceland appears to have been subject to some form of expropriation by a court ruling in his case against Fjarðabyggð. The court found that the municipality had no obligation to round up trespassing sheep from the farm because the animals had come from a shared grazing area.
The East Iceland Cancer Society is holding a pink event in Egilsstaðir tomorrow evening as part of the Icelandic Cancer Society’s awareness campaign. The East Iceland Cancer Society has received a good response to the campaign.
The East Iceland District Court has acquitted Fjarðabyggð of a claim by a forest farmer in Stöðvarfjörður, who argued that the municipality was obliged to round up sheep that strayed onto their unfenced land. One of the key questions in the case is where the sheep came from before they entered the farmer’s land.
The board of the East Iceland Teachers’ Association criticises changes to the primary school grading system, which replace letter grades with numbers. Education committees in East Iceland have voiced concern about how quickly the switch is due to happen.
Rás 1 and Rás 2 antenna broadcasts will drop out in parts of Austurland and the East Fjords for a while shortly after eleven o’clock. This happens while Rarik replaces a meter at Gagnheiði. The replacement affects 14 transmitters.
The municipality of Fjarðabyggð had no legal duty to round up sheep that strayed onto private land and damaged forestry in Stöðvarfjörður. The East Iceland District Court acquitted the municipality of a landowner’s claim that its liability for damages be recognised.
A heated debate erupted on Facebook over the weekend about the holdings and influence of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who has bought dozens of farms in Northeast Iceland in recent decades. Anglers and musicians Bubbi Morthens and Pálmi Gunnarsson clashed, disagreeing about Ratcliffe and his plans.
Cooperation between rescue team members and the police special unit meant the search for a man who fell into Stuðlagil in August was successful. The man was found on the riverbed with the help of a camera. A rescue team member who specialises in swiftwater rescue says it matters that people are found, whether alive or dead.
In connection with the Björgun 2026 conference now taking place in Harpa in Reykjavík, many of the country’s rescue teams have brought their oldest vehicles to the venue. One that has drawn particular attention is the oldest vehicle of the Vopni rescue team in Vopnafjörður. It has been in service with the team for a full 42 years.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office has issued a warning because of a low-pressure system moving quickly across the country on Sunday. It brings strong winds. In East Iceland, however, the wind could pick up as early as tomorrow.
KPMG has adopted a new grants policy aimed at strengthening its support for community projects in rural areas. The application process has been changed and applications are now open.
Vopnafjörður municipality’s special Friendship Week began last Sunday, the first Friendship Week in the community in about four years. The young people of the village organised the programme themselves from A to Z, and participation by locals has been excellent.
Austurglugginn today publishes an analysis of the financial situation of Menntaskólinn á Egilsstöðum. It has wider relevance, because the school is one of ten that have been ordered to eliminate accumulated deficits in the coming years, and judging by the fiscal plan there appears to be every reason to be concerned about the upper secondary schools. ME’s position is the worst, however, as it must make up for, or repay, a deficit of ISK 300 million over four…
Marta María Winkel wonders what the mood is like right now at the homes of the five MPs who went swimming without permission in Vopnafjörður.
The revelry of five MPs got a little out of hand when the group went for an unauthorised swim one evening. The incident took place at Selárlaug in Vopnafjörður last week. The municipal manager of Vopnafjarðarhreppur has now confirmed in the media that…
Civil protection authorities in East Iceland are urging owners of boats and ships in the Eastfjords to check on their vessels because of high sea levels and a forecast of strong winds. There was torrential rain in the Eastfjords this morning.
There has been considerable rain in East Iceland today, but it has eased for the time being.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office has issued warnings for increased landslide risk in the Eastfjords and high sea levels tomorrow. It will be windy in the area, with considerable rainfall. A warning has also been issued for a snowstorm on Thursday.
The upcoming SPAR store in Neskaupstaður will be the chain’s first shop in Iceland with a self-service system that lets customers get in around the clock, all year round. Customers can expect lower prices when the store takes over from Kjörbúðin next month.
The municipalities of Fjarðabyggð, Múlaþing and Vopnafjarðarhreppur have already approved or put forward proposals aiming to keep tariffs from rising by more than 2.5% at the next new year, in order to curb inflation.
The retail company Drangar will open a SPAR store in Neskaupstaður next month, the first outside the capital region. At the beginning of next year it will be possible to shop there around the clock. SÚN has supported the changes.
The MPs who sneaked into a swim at Selárlaug in Vopnafjörður during constituency week committed trespass, in the view of Ásthildur Lóa Þórisdóttir, an MP for the People’s Party. She firmly rejects that such behaviour applies to MPs in general. Ingibjörg Isaksen, an MP for the Progressive Party, says there is nothing newsworthy about the swim.
Last week’s decision by Múlaþing’s family council not to give staff of the East Iceland Healthcare Institution (HSA) priority for preschool places has already had the effect that some staff have had to postpone returning to work after parental leave.
SPAR will open a store in Neskaupstaður in November, the chain’s first outside the capital region.
More than thirteen thousand people have signed a petition to the government for the protection of Seyðisfjörður, and the lists of signatures will be handed to Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate, today at eleven o’clock.
Before the disaster scenario itself is set out, the place has to be pictured as a whole. Selstaðavík is not a blank spot on a map, and the pen site will not be set down in a vacuum. Here an old settlement landscape, high mountainsides, flood paths, shore, seabed and the people’s centuries-old ties to the sea meet.
MPs from the Northeast constituency went for a swim at Selárlaug in Vopnafjörður after closing time during constituency week. A local council representative is said to have given permission for this and guided them.
It is becoming hard for the people of Seyðisfjörður to resist the feeling that the Icelandic government’s newest national sport is to bully them. The community’s vital interests seem to be repeatedly set aside, the will of locals is disregarded and when one blow has passed, the next seems close behind. The same spot is struck again and again.