Intense heatwave in southern Brazil forces schools to suspend return

A classroom is empty at an elementary school after a court injunction halted the return to classes due to a severe heatwave in Porto Alegre on Monday. Photograph: Diego Vara/Reuters

During historic floods last May that left more than 180 dead in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, the water rose to the ceiling of the Olindo Flores school in the city of São Leopoldo, destroying furniture, books and parts of its infrastructure.

When classes resumed more than a month later, its 500 students had to be relocated to another school for months.