As Heat Indexes Hit Scorching, a Sweaty Nation Takes Precautions

Rick Rojas and Michael Gold

July 21, 2019 12:10 AM

NEW YORK — New York City roasted Saturday as the heat approached 100 degrees, and thanks to air thickened by humidity, it felt even hotter.

For some, the heat brought only discomfort. Yet officials feared far more perilous consequences. Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency lasting through the weekend, saying in a news conference Friday, “We have not seen temperatures like this in at least seven years.”

Hundreds of cooling centers were opened to protect those most vulnerable to the heat, like older people and the homeless. But lawyers and activists complained that inmates in the city’s jails stifled in units without air conditioning. There were also worries about an overuse of electricity jeopardizing the city’s power system, threatening a blackout.

Still, the heat did little to stop some New Yorkers from venturing into the streets. They filled museums, formed lines around the block for community pools and went to work.

“The bills have to be paid,” said Ron Mason, 51, a parks worker in a fairly empty Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, wearing long pants, long sleeves and work gloves. “So, regardless of if it’s burning hot or freezing cold, I’ve got to be out here.”

Extreme heat blanketed much of the continent, stretching as far as the Great Lakes and the Texas panhandle. In Washington, homeless people were ushered into shelters. In Boston, officials there also declared a heat emergency and opened cooling centers. In South Dakota, local officials had to shut down a busy interstate after the pavement buckled under the heat.

The heat has led to several deaths across the country.

A former player for the New York Giants died in Arkansas on Thursday from a heat stroke; the player, Mitch Petrus, 32, had been working outside his family’s shop in his hometown outside Little Rock. And an air conditioner technician was found in an attic where he had been working in a suburb of Phoenix, and authorities there said his death was likely caused by the heat.

Relief from heat indexes as high as 115 degrees in some places was not expected before the weekend is out. Rain is forecast Monday for many of the areas hit by the heat wave, including New York.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Rick Rojas and Michael Gold