FLOODING FEARED AS VOLCANO ERUPTS UNDER ICELAND GLACIER.

Byline: Associated Press 

A volcano erupting under Europe's largest glacier sent plumes of steam and ash up to 33,000 feet into the sky Saturday, and engineers fear flooding from molten rock melting the glacier.

The molten rock was spewing from a 5-mile fissure, melting ice and pouring water into a crater-like basin underneath called the Grimsvotn Caldera, said Pall Imsland, a geologist at the University of Iceland.

``It has been filling up in the last days and is now filled to critical level and should start to flow out at any time now,'' he said.

Scientists don't know how long it will take the water to flow 30 miles through underground tunnels to the glacier's edge, which runs along the main road around the country's coast.

Engineers have strengthened trenches and are prepared to cut passes through the road to direct the possible flow of water over the nearby plain, Imsland said.

Loki volcano probably began erupting Tuesday but didn't break through the uninhabited, 2,000-foot Vatnajokull glacier until Wednesday morning, Imsland said. The volcano, located in southeastern Iceland, last erupted in 1938.`

Flights have been diverted from the area around the volcano in southeastern Iceland and farmers in the north have been told to keep sheep and other animals inside to protect them from toxic ash.