Floods in southern Brazil leave students without classrooms for a month

Wet books lay in a classroom at school after floods due to heavy rains in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Diego Vara

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of students in southern Brazil have been gone a month without seeing their classrooms after catastrophic floods submerged some schools and turned others into shelters, raising concerns about their mental health.

Of Rio Grande do Sul state's more than 2,000 public schools, nearly a fifth remain closed, affecting some 185,000 students.