Marikina public school students' long break extended until Monday

Marikina public school students' long break due to the floods brought by torrential monsoon rains has been extended as the local government suspended classes for Monday, August 13. BJ Salcedo of the Marikina City Public Information Office told GMA News Online the suspension covers preschool, elementary, high school, and college levels in all public schools in the city. Salcedo said suspension in private schools would be left to the discretion of their respective school officials. Marikina is among the areas in Metro Manila hit hardest by rains and floods brought by the southwest monsoon. Flooding in the city was mainly attributed to the excessive swelling of the Marikina River, the water level of which reached as high as 20.6 meters last Tuesday. Classes at all levels had been suspended since. After days of rescue operations to take trapped residents from their inundated communities to evacuation centers, the local government has no shifted to a massive "clearing operation," which involved deploying garbage trucks, backhoes, and pay loaders to scoop up the humongous garbage dumped by raging water into the city streets. Most of the 33 evacuations centers are public schools which were used to accomodate thousands of evacuees. As of this posting, water level at the Marikina River has gone down to 14.99 meters, just below the city's Alarm Level 1. Under the city's alert system, Alarm Level 1 (warning) is raised if the water level is between 15 to 16 meters. Alarm Level 2 (prepare) is raised when the water level goes above 16 to 17 meters. Alarm Level 3 (voluntary evacuate) is raised when the Water level goes beyond 17 meters. The highest level, 4, is raised when the water level goes beyond 18 meters and will entail forced evacuation. — LBG, GMA News