Palm Springs family shares their Taal Volcano experience in exclusive sit down interview

Tens of thousands of people including a family from Palm Springs were forced to evacuate when the Taal volcano, south of Manila began spewing ash into the air.

News Channel 3 sat down with the family for an exclusive interview at their Palm Springs home.

“I was telling my kids, see I told you we’d have a fun vacation that you’ll remember,” Sara Neal, the grandmother said.

It certainly was a family vacation unlike any other. The grandmother explained why she planned the trip to the Philippines.

“I always promised my kids that one day I would take them to my homeland,” she said.

It was a trip her grandchildren were had been looking forward to.

“One of my dream vacations was to go to the Philippines and see how my grandma grew up,” Angelina Marquez, Sara's granddaughter said

Today, the family looks back on the their trip remembering the moments before it took a turn for the worst.

Sara's daughter, Renee Gonzales shares a memory caught on camera.

“We took a photo in front of the volcano and we had grey dots all over our shirts and my mom goes, 'it's sap from the tree.' and I say that doesn’t look like sap,” Renee Gonzales said to her mom.

Not even ten minutes later it started pouring ash as skies turned from blue to black.

“I had to stay calm because I knew that if I stayed calm everyone around will stay calm,” Sara said.

Little did they know, it was more than just smoke coming from the volcano like the locals say it occasionally does, but that the Taal volcano was actually erupting for the first time in nearly 50 years.

“It felt like a real big earthquake,” Liviah Gonzales, Renee's daughter said. “I felt scared because I was shaking,” she added.

“I got really anxious on the ride back to the house because we couldn’t see anything outside the windows," Renee explained. "The driver had to keep pouring water bottles on the windshield to see but even then immediately after he poured the water it cleared for a second but then it was covered in ash,” she said.

It took them a five hour car ride to get back ti their Air BnB just 11 miles from the erupting volcano.

“I didn’t sleep all night I was up very anxious," Renee said. "Everytime there was an earthquake I would wake up my husband and he would turn to me and look at me and say, 'Babe, I think this is it,' and I said, 'I don’t think so, I think we’ll make it home but I was terrified,” she added.

After spending the night, the next day the luscious Philippines was covered in grey mud.

“The very next day, no power, no water, we are stuck,” Sara said.

Next, they quickly evacuated afraid of a bigger eruption to come.

Renee says if it weren’t for their driver Rey, who helped them get out when they did, they would’ve ended up in an evacuation center.

After arriving in Manila, they were thankful to catch their flight and not have to give up their seats like so many did.

Today, the Taal volcano has been lowered to an alert level three. There are no known deaths and according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, this means the volcano’s condition has declined into less frequent earthquakes and weak steam and gas emissions.