Half a Million Residents Evacuated Near Philippines' Taal Volcano
GORANI: It is considered one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes, and it could erupt again within days, possibly even hours. The Philippines' government is urging a total evacuation for nearly half a million people. Blake Essig reports.</s>BLAKE ESSIG , CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than 40 years of relative peace and quiet, Taal Volcano, one of the smallest in the world, started making a whole lot of noise.</s>ARMANDO MENDOZA (PH), PHILIPPINE RESIDENT (through translator): We were afraid and in a panic. We're thinking of how we can save our lives.</s>ESSIG (voice-over): It all started Sunday afternoon, about 60 kilometers south of the Philippine capital of Manila, a violent eruption sending steam, ash and rock roughly 15 kilometers into the sky, raining down on the roughly 25 million people, like Noel (ph) Soares (ph), living below.</s>NOEL SOARES (PH), PHILIPPINE RESIDENT (through translator): It's difficult to get food because it's difficult to move. We cannot use the vehicle since it's muddy, and we cannot even clean it since there's no water. Almost everything is a problem now, and then you have the volcano spewing again.</s>ESSIG (voice-over): And after nearly 150 small earthquakes, Philippine officials believe it's going to get worse before it gets better. Nearly half a million residents have been ordered to evacuate immediately, believing another much larger eruption and possible tsunami could be imminent.</s>ERIK KLEMETTI, VOLCANOLOGIST: The real hazard is that it has the potential for explosions --</s>ESSIG (voice-over): That's volcanologist Erik Klemetti. He says that despite Taal's small stature, it's one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, a volcano with a deadly past, claiming more than 1,300 lives in 1911 and another 190 in 1965.</s>KLEMETTI: For the people living nearby, the combination of explosions and a large population can really -- are the things that volcanologists really hope don't get combined.</s>ESSIG (voice-over): A combination that could be fatal, and has already proven to be destructive.</s>MENDOZA (PH) (through translator): There are many destroyed houses. It's almost like a desert there because of the thickness of the mud.</s>ESSIG (voice-over): Leaving those like Armando (ph) Mendoza (ph) to wonder what might be left of his community when he returns home, a decision ultimately decided by Taal. Blake Essig, CNN.</s>GORANI: We are watching how the impeachment process against U.S. President Donald Trump unfolds this week. The House needs to hold a vote before it can send those articles of impeachment over to the Senate to get the trial started. Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill with what we can expect. So Pelosi still holding onto these two articles, but she's under a lot of pressure to get things moving now, isn't she?</s>LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Hala. And this stalemate is expected to come to an end this week. Here's what we know is going to happen. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, will name who the House managers will be, those are the individuals who are going to make the case, over during the Senate trial, on the House's behalf.</s>TEXT: Next Steps Expected This Week: Pelosi meets with caucus on Tuesday; House managers selected; House votes to formally send articles to the Senate; House mangers hand-deliver articles to Senate lawmakers; Brief prepared by lawyers on each side</s>FOX: Then they'll have a vote, sending those individuals over to the Senate. They will actually deliver the articles of impeachment. Then we will see sort of a formal Senate impeachment swearing-in of the U.S. senators. They'll all take an oath of office, swearing to do impartial justice. We expect that will happen a little later this week. Then there might be a brief break for a little while, that's because lawmakers are going to have to turn over their briefs to make the Democratic case. We expect that the president's lawyers will have to turn over their own briefs. Then we expect this could all get started, the House managers making their case and the president's lawyers making their case, as early as next Tuesday, Hala, so that might be the soonest that we'll see sort of this formal impeachment trial get started in the Senate. But of course, this comes after weeks of a showdown between Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the U.S. Senate. In the end, Pelosi got very little in terms of what the Senate trial structure is going to look like, but things look like they're going to get moving this week -- Hala.</s>GORANI: All right. Lauren Fox, thanks. Still to come tonight, an exclusive look inside a base that was attacked by those Iranian ballistic missiles last week. And we'll hear from the U.S. soldiers who survived, that's coming up.