Flateyri has been a trading post since 1792 and temporarily became a major whaling center in the 19th century.
On October 26, 1995, an avalanche hit the village, destroying 29 homes and burying 45 people, which resulted in 20 fatalities. Since then a deflecting dam has been built to protect the village from any further avalanches.
In the 1990s, Flateyri prospered as a fishing village, but after the 2008–2011 financial crisis hit, its main fishing companies shut down, and many people left. A German fishing company has set up base in Flateyri and is currently fishing in and just out of Önundarfjörður.
The Essogas station in Flateyri was the subject of a Belgiandocumentary in a series about gas stations around the world. The avalanche 1995 was also a subject of a feature documentary, 66°23 North West (The Day of The Avalanche), which premiered in a Reykjavík cinema on the 15th anniversary of the avalanche in 2010.[1]
A memorial with the names of those that died In the avalanche on 26 October 1995 and in the background Avalanche dam in A form.
On 14 January 2020, two large avalanches hit the avalanche dam above the village. The first avalanche slid down the right side of the dam and to the ocean where it caused a tsunami that hit the harbour and sank 6 of 7 boats located there. The second avalanche slid down the left side of the dam before spilling over it and hitting a house with four occupants. Three of the occupants were able to escape the house through a window, while the fourth one was rescued from the snow around 30 minutes later by ICE-SAR members.
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The town is also the home of 'the oldest original store in Iceland', founded in 1914, the Brothers Eyjolfsson bookstore.
Iceland