About 80 percent of schools in Houston opened Monday after a two-week delay caused when Hurricane Harvey drenched the region in late August. The 287 schools in the Houston Independent School District saw an estimated $700 million in damage to walls, floors, classroom technologies and other parts of campus, excluding wider damage to the homes of teachers and school staff and administrators. But despite the two-week closures, the region's recovery overall is considered speedy compared to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when most public schools remained closed for more than four months.
In parts of Florida and Georgia, meanwhile, many schools remain closed (and some are expected to stay closed through the week) while they assess damage and begin recovery efforts from Hurricane Irma. Felled trees causing power outages to millions of residents and road closures have sharply curbed accessibility to schools, which mostly appear to have been spared structural damage. In South Florida, an additional 42 public schools served as storm shelters, some of them operating on generator power.
Sources: New York Times, Miami Herald
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