WITH heavy monsoon rains still expected to pound Metro Manila and parts of Luzon until Wednesday, classes in all levels are suspended on Monday, August 13, 2018.
As of 7 p.m. Sunday, the local governments of the following have declared suspension of classes in all levels: all 16 cities and Pateros town in Metro Manila as well as the provinces of Benguet, Bataan and Pampanga.
In Rizal province, the local governments of Antipolo City, Baras, Rodriguez, Taytay, San Mateo and Tanay have suspended classes.
In Tarlac, classes are suspended in Tarlac City, Capas, Capiling, Paniqui, and Bamban. The local governments of Malolos City, Paombong, San Rafael, Angat, Pulilan, Obando, San Miguel, San Ildefonso and Angat in Bulacan also announced class suspensions.
The southwest monsoon is enhanced by Tropical Storm Yagi (known locally as Karding) and Tropical Storm Leepi, although both are outside the Philippine area of responsibility.
As of 4 p.m. Sunday, August 12, weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has issued heavy rainfall warning over Luzon.
An orange warning, which means forced evacuation in low-lying areas, has been issued for Metro Manila as well as the provinces of Rizal, Pampanga and Bulacan.
Yellow warning, which means flooding is possible, is up over the provinces of Cavite, Quezon and Bataan as well as in southern Zambales.
Residents in these areas are warned against the threat of floods and landslides, said Pagasa weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio.
Possible flooding and landslides were also projected in Ilocos, Cordillera, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Mindoro due to the monsoon rains.
The rest of Luzon will experience occasional rains while the Visayas and Mindanao will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and localized thunderstorms.
Luzon will have strong to gale winds and rough to very rough coastal waters while the rest of the country will experience moderate to strong winds and moderate to rough coastal waters.
As of 3 p.m. Sunday, Leepi was spotted 2,065 kilometers east of extreme norther Luzon. It is packing winds of 80 km per hour with gustiness of up to 95 km per hour and moving northwest at 20 km per hour. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)