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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.
On Monday, they were due to start the new school year but could not do so – this time because of an intense heatwave affecting the state. The start of the school year was pushed back after a court ruling on behalf of a teachers’ union, which had argued that classrooms lacked adequate ventilation and water supplies for students.
In recent days, the highest temperatures recorded in Brazilian cities have all been in Rio Grande do Sul, a state which is normally milder than other Brazilian regions closer to the equator.
Quaraí, a city of 23,500 inhabitants on the border with Uruguay, recorded the country’s highest temperature of the year on 4 February: 43.8C (110.8F), with a heat index of over 50C – the highest ever recorded in the state since measurements began in 1910. More than 60 municipalities in the state have declared a state of emergency due to drought.
Marina Hirota, a scientist and professor of meteorology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, said that while it was still too early for in-depth analyses of the current heatwave, both it and last year’s floods are “potentially linked to the climate crisis”.
“These extreme events – heatwaves, cold spells, and intense flooding like what happened in Rio Grande do Sul in 2024, followed now by an extreme drought – are becoming more frequent and more intense … and this frequency and intensity are the result of the climate crisis,” she said.
The teachers’ union said more than 70% of schools in the state lack air conditioning. Other schools have had air conditioning units for years but have been unable to install them because their electrical systems cannot support them.
Olindo Flores school in São Leopoldo was one of the few that had air conditioning, but the equipment was lost in last year’s floods and has not yet been replaced during reconstruction.
“We had classes in November and December, and there were some hot days – but nothing like this – and it was already difficult for teachers and students,” said Luiz Henrique Becker, 63, a sociology teacher at the school. “People were exhausted, unable to concentrate. Now, with this heatwave, resuming classes would be impossible.”
On Sunday, after the union’s request, a judge suspended the start of classes for at least a week. The government appealed, and yesterday, an appellate judge ruled that classes could resume on Thursday, when a cold front is expected to arrive.
“We will keep fighting for the government to install air conditioning in all schools because new heatwaves will happen,” said Rosane Zan, president of the teachers’ union.
Hirota, who is also a researcher with a tropical ecology group at the Serrapilheira Institute, said: “Last year, we had the floods, and now, we get this extreme heat immediately after … We’re becoming less and less able to predict these events because they never used to happen this way … For the living beings in these places – whether humans, animals, or plants – it’s also becoming ever more difficult to adapt to such abrupt changes.”
