Eta may be gone, but these South Florida schools can’t open because of the storm
More than 20 Broward County public schools remained closed Tuesday because of flooding from Tropical Storm Eta.
Students at the 23 schools are learning online while crews work to sop up the standing water and repair damage at the campuses, according to district officials.
Along with flooding, seven schools — Everglades High School, Miramar Elementary, Castle Hill Elementary, Endeavor Primary, Fox Trail Elementary, Western High School and Norcrest Elementary — have no air conditioning or no electricity, according to the district.
It was not immediately clear if the issues would be resolved this week, but students and faculty are off Wednesday for Veterans Day.
Some of the flooding is so severe that access is blocked to campuses, district officials say.
Although Eta’s center crossed South Florida in Lower Matecumbe Key, the northern end of the storm caused the most damage. The hardest hit areas were Key Largo and from Homestead to Broward on the mainland, forecasters say.
The other affected schools are Apollo Middle, Hollywood Park Elementary, Chapel Trail Elementary, Fairway Elementary, New Renaissance Middle, Silver Palms Elementary, Silver Trail Middle, West Broward High School, Dillard Elementary, Flamingo Elementary, Gator Run Elementary, Indian Ridge Middle, Manatee Bay Elementary, Seminole Middle, Tequesta Trace Middle and Markham Elementary.
Eta did not impact operations at Miami-Dade public schools, with a few minor exceptions, district officials said.
The air conditioning at Jose de Diego Middle School went out early Tuesday morning, before 7 a.m., said Jaquelyn Calzadilla, director of media relations for the school district. It remained out for a few hours in the morning while technicians installed a new part, she said.
Some other schools had flooding in outside hallways, but no school in Miami-Dade suffered permanent damage, Calzadilla said. Drying equipment was used to deal with the standing water, she said.
Schools in the Florida Keys were not adversely impacted by Eta, and classes resumed as normal Tuesday, said Becky Herrin, Monroe County School District spokeswoman.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
