Students and employees of University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila are without a doubt veterans of floods and the wild moodswings of the monsoon. On Thursday, more than 2,000 students, faculty members and other personnel were stranded inside the campus. The continuous downpour during the afternoon was enough to merit the suspension of classes, but by that time it was already too late – the campus itself and the streets surrounding it was past waist-deep in floods.
An ABS CBN News report quoted The Varsitarian, UST’s campus newspaper, as saying that students were still stranded inside the campus until around 7 p.m. Some students braved the flooded streets to try to get home. The UST Office of the Secretary suspended classes and work inside the campus on Friday “to allow stranded Thomasians to go home for clean-up of affected buildings; and considering a forecast of afternoon rains.”
More than 20 colleges and universities in Metro Manila also suspended classes on Thursday due to heavy rains and floods.
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Photos by: Susan Cortez – Samson
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