1995 Flateyri avalanche

The 1995 Flateyri avalanche was an avalanche that struck the village of Flateyri in Iceland’s Westfjords on 26 October 1995, killing 20 people. It came 8 months after an avalanche in Súðavík killed 14 people. The disasters had a profound effect on the nation and sparked a massive buildup of avalanche dams to protect towns in danger zones.

The avalanche fell from Skollahvilft at around 4:00 AM, and destroyed 17 houses. 45 people were in the houses hit by the avalanche, 21 managed to escape on their own and four were later rescued alive.