TROPICAL STORM Hato, locally named Isang, was forecasted to be out of the Philippine area by today, Aug. 23, but not before dumping heavy rains in the central to northern parts of Luzon on Tuesday. Isang also intensified the southwest monsoon, bringing light to heavy rains over the Visayas and the rest of Luzon, particularly over the western section and the Cordillera Administrative Region. The country’s weather bureau, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), raised typhoon signal #1 yesterday in Ilocos Norte, the Batanes and Babuyan islands. In Metro Manila, the Marikina River was placed under alert level 2 on Tuesday morning as the water reached 16 meters above sea level (MASL). An alert level 2 sends out a signal to residents to prepare for possible evacuation. Forced evacuation is implemented at alert level 3 when the water reached 18 MASL. Classes were suspended in the capital, surrounding areas, and other provinces in the northern part of Luzon. — with a report from philstar.com

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