Nine Palm Beach Schools Close November 4 as Flooding Strands Motorists

Nine schools across Palm Beach County will stay closed on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, after days of heavy rain left neighbourhoods flooded, stranded motorists and waterlogged local businesses. The Palm Beach County School District said the closures cover campuses from Riviera Beach in the north to western Boca Raton in the south, including six schools in the West Palm Beach area, and that the buildings will be closed to students, staff and visitors for the day.

Key Points

• **Nine Palm Beach County schools closed on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, because of community flooding.**
• **The closed campuses have a combined enrolment of about 9,660 students, from elementary schools to two high schools.**
• **Students at schools that stayed open but could not travel safely were given an excused absence, and bus riders were warned to expect delays.**
• **Heavy rain in recent days flooded parts of Palm Beach County, stranding motorists and flooding businesses.**
• **All district schools had already been closed on Tuesday, November 3, for Election Day, so Wednesday was the first scheduled school day hit by the flooding.**

What Happened

The district announced the closures after localised flooding made travel unsafe in several communities. The nine schools are Egret Lake Elementary, Grassy Waters Elementary, Loxahatchee Groves Elementary, Seminole Trails Elementary and Washington Elementary in Riviera Beach, along with Bear Lakes Middle and Jeaga Middle, and Palm Beach Lakes High and West Boca Raton High. Together they serve roughly 9,660 pupils, a figure that underlines how widely the disruption spread across the county rather than being confined to a single neighbourhood.

For families at schools that remained open, the district set out a practical set of arrangements. A pupil who could not reach school because conditions were unsafe would receive an excused absence, removing the pressure on parents to attempt a dangerous journey. Bus riders were told to expect delays, reflecting flooded or slow-moving routes, and parents were asked to drive children to school where that was possible. The message was, in effect, to put safety ahead of attendance on a day when conditions varied sharply from one community to the next.

Background and Context

Palm Beach County is no stranger to disruptive rain, and this week arrived at the end of a wet and difficult stretch for South Florida. The wider region has been dealing with flooding through the early part of the week, with emergency declarations, closed schools and moved polling places reported in other Florida counties as the same unsettled weather affected much of the state. In Palm Beach County itself, the flooding followed a period in which the county was already in the news for an unrelated tragedy, the November 1 Learjet crash at Greenacres, which had forced the closure of a nearby high school on Monday.

Palm Beach County Schools Closed as Flooding Spreads

The Palm Beach County schools closed on November 4 span the county's geography, and that spread is itself an important detail. The list runs from Washington Elementary in Riviera Beach, through West Palm Beach-area campuses including Egret Lake, Grassy Waters, Seminole Trails, Bear Lakes Middle, Jeaga Middle and Palm Beach Lakes High, to Loxahatchee Groves Elementary further west and West Boca Raton High in the south. A closure list that long, covering elementary, middle and high schools, points to flooding that was localised but widespread — pockets of deep water in several communities rather than one flooded river or one overwhelmed drainage basin.

Reactions and Guidance for Families

The School District of Palm Beach County said student and staff safety is its top priority, and said it continues to monitor localised flooding in several communities. That safety-first framing is the thread running through the whole announcement: closures where travel was unsafe, excused absences where individual families could not travel, and delays acknowledged openly for bus services that did run.

Why It Matters

School closures are often treated as a footnote to a weather story, but they are one of the clearest measures of how disruptive flooding has been. When nine schools close, it means flooding has affected not just a road or a neighbourhood, but the daily routines of thousands of families across a whole county. It also means the disruption has reached a threshold where officials judged that normal life could not safely continue in those areas.

What Happens Next

The next decision point is Thursday morning, when the district will need to confirm whether the nine closed schools can reopen or must stay shut for another day. That call will depend on overnight conditions, drainage and road checks, and whether bus routes can operate normally. Families should check the district's announcements before setting out, rather than assuming a Wednesday closure automatically carries over or automatically ends.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Palm Beach County schools closed on November 4, 2026?

Egret Lake Elementary, Grassy Waters Elementary, Loxahatchee Groves Elementary, Seminole Trails Elementary, Washington Elementary in Riviera Beach, Bear Lakes Middle, Jeaga Middle, Palm Beach Lakes High and West Boca Raton High.

Why did the schools close?

The district closed them because of community flooding after several days of heavy rain, which made travel unsafe in the areas around those campuses.

How many students were affected?

The nine closed schools have a combined enrolment of roughly 9,660 students, and the buildings were closed to students, staff and visitors.

What about students at schools that stayed open?

Students who could not get to an open school because of unsafe conditions were given an excused absence, bus riders were warned to expect delays, and parents were asked to drive children to school if possible.

Will the schools reopen on Thursday?

That has not yet been confirmed. The district said it continues to monitor localised flooding, and reopening will depend on whether roads and bus routes are safe.

Related coverage: Brevard schools closed Tuesday as historic Florida flooding swamps county and DeSantis declares Florida flooding state of emergency in 7 counties.

Image: A flooded street in front of a Florida school building. This is a generated illustration based on the reported conditions, not a photograph of one of the closed Palm Beach County schools.