However, no major incident had occurred until one October morning in 1995.
Photo credit:www.ismennt.is
It was 4 am on the 27th, and the residents of Flateyri were sleeping.
The darkness made matters worse.
Twenty people were killed that day.
It took search parties two long and grueling days to locate all the bodies.
The disaster was the second deadly avalanche in the same region in ten months.
After that incident, people living in avalanche-prone areas became more prepared and cautious.
As winter began the following October, high winds in the West Fjords prompted evacuations across the region.
Hundreds of electric poles were snapped by the winds like twigs.
Several avalanches occurred the day before the disaster at various places.
Two deadly avalanches struck the Westfjords in 1995.
The structure consist of two deflecting dams that form a wedge or A-shaped structure in the mountain side.
There is a small catching dam that extends between the two deflecting dams in the lowermost part.
The village was saved.
A memorial to those who lost their lives.
