Taal Volcano is starting to erupt

Taal is a beautiful volcano that is located south of Manila, and has a large lake on top with "the world's smallest volcano" in the midst of the lake (as locals like to quip).

here's Dr. Danny from when we visited there a couple years ago:

Ah but the problem is that the small volcano spits ash and steam on and off, but now it looks like it is starting to erupt.

for the last few days, there has been some small amounts of smoke and ash, but late this afternoon the Volcano started spewing ash, and the alert is up to level 4: Imminent eruption.

we are getting alerts on our cellphones and watching the local radio station coverage on our TV. Hopefully we won't lose cable or internet or electricity.

CNNPHIL: (11pm here): has lots of photos there which I won't post due to copyright issues.

Taal Volcano in the Philippines has sent an eruption plume a kilometer above the crater, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. The agency says Taal is showing a "fast escalation" in volcanic activity and could erupt lava within weeks. Evacuation orders have been ordered for three towns in Batangas, Luzon, according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines. Flights have been disrupted at Manila International Airport.

The volcano is south of Manila, and we are 40 miles northeast of Manila so we are not in danger, but those in the area have been evacuated and photos show heavy ash falling.

We also have an "ash" warning in our area.

I haven't seen ash yet, but Joy just got back from Manila and said the ash is falling there and in nearby Bulacan... and the larger eruption happened after she got home this evening.

Facemasks are sold out of most pharmacies already, but they actually don't give enough protection: the advice is to use a wet towel instead.

this will be bad for the elders and those with Asthma: we were warned to stay indoors.

Classes and gov't offices in Manila and in Region 3 (our area) are closed tomorrow, and of course the airport there is also closed, and international flights going over the area will have to go around the ash cloud.

Clark International airport northwest of here in Pampanga is still open, but expected to shut down when the ash cloud extends there. (Clark was a US AFB when Mt Pinatubo erupted and put it under ash... it was scheduled to be closed because the Philippine gov't didn't want foreign bases here, so it shut down shortly after the eruption; since then, it was rebuilt as an airport and enterprise zone). We weren't living here at the time of Mt Pinatubo, but visited a few months later to see the devastation.

more information on Taal volcano HERE.

Taal caused one of the worst volcano disasters in history: its eruption in 1911 killed 1334 people and caused ash fall as far as Manila city. Due to its devastating potential, Taal was declared one of the "Decade Volcanoes" in the Decade Volcanoes program of the 1990s in order to incentive study and monitoring of the volcano. Taal is today one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the region.

Photo credit: rappler