Via ABS-CBN News: Ghost towns around Taal as frightened thousands flee volcano. Excerpt:
TALISAY, Batangas -- An ashen beach and toppled trees were all that remained of a popular wedding venue a short boat ride from Taal, one of many areas transformed into ghost towns overnight as thousands fled the volcano's wrath.
Roads were shrouded in thick gray smoke as evacuees, their heads wrapped in cloth, clambered onto pickup trucks. Markets and offices in city centers were shut with a "hazardous" eruption possible, according to authorities.
Rains were expected in the ash-covered provinces of Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna, threatening to turn the debris into mud. A state of calamity was declared in Batangas, which will allow authorities there to tap emergency funds and freeze prices of basic goods.
The ash clouds from Sunday's eruption prompted the overnight closure of Manila's main airport, where some 240 flights were canceled. It reopened at noon with ashfall seen to shift to Quezon province.
"You could not sleep anymore, because every time you closed your eyes the house would shake," restaurant owner Lia Monteverde told AFP, describing the earthquakes that followed the eruption.
"All of us didn't sleep at all. We just prepared to leave."
At Balai Isabel, the popular wedding events venue, ash-covered the beachfront while tires of parked cars and SUVs were caked in mud.
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