Dettifoss Waterfall Temporarily Closed Due To Flooding

Visitors to Iceland will not be able to visit the area around Dettifoss on account of flooding which officials say is “life threatening”.

In a Facebook post, officials from Vatnajökull National Park have announced that Dettifoss is closed for the time being due to an unusually high level of runoff water making any visit to the area very dangerous.

According to officials, water is pouring over Route 862 and spreading, with flooding reaching into nearby Sanddal as well. For this reason, park rangers have coordinated shutting down the area to outside visitors with the Icelandic Road Administration and the police.

It is unknown how long the closing will last. While unusual, the move is not unheard of. Dettifoss was last closed to visitors in 2016, and remained shut down for about 36 hours.

In order to get the latest alerts and closings, poor weather conditions and the like, alert tourists would do well to check out SafeTravel, which provides up-to-the-minute updates on travel conditions in several languages.