A dangerous heat wave threatened a wide swath of the Southwest with life-threatening temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius on Saturday, as some cooling centers planned to extend their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with illnesses related to the heat
“Near record temperatures expected this weekend!” the National Weather Service in Phoenix warned in a tweet, advising people to follow their heat safety tips, such as drinking plenty of water and controlling members of the public. family and neighbors.
“Don’t be a statistic!” the weather service in Tucson advised, noting that extreme heat can be deadly. “It can happen to you!”
About 200 hydration stations that distribute bottled water and cooling centers where thousands of people can rest in air-conditioned spaces opened Saturday morning in public spaces like libraries, churches and businesses in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
David Hondula, heat director for the city of Phoenix, said Friday that due to health risks, some centers were extending hours, which are sometimes shortened due to limited volunteers and money.
“This weekend is going to be some of the hottest and most severe conditions we’ve ever seen,” Hondula said.
He added that only one location, the Brian Garcia Welcome Center for the homeless in downtown Phoenix, planned to be open 24 hours a day and direct people to shelters and other air-conditioned spaces to spend the night. During especially hot periods in recent years, the Phoenix Convention Center has opened as an overnight cooling center, but Hondula said she hadn’t heard of that possibility this year.
Las Vegas casinos offer respite
In Las Vegas, the casinos offered a respite from the heat for many. Air-conditioned libraries, police station lobbies and other locations from Texas to California planned to be open to the public to offer relief for at least part of the day.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, many public pools offered free admission. In Boise, Idaho, churches and other nonprofit groups offered water, sunscreen, and shelter.
Emergency room doctors in Las Vegas have been treating more people for heat illnesses as the heat wave threatened to break the city’s all-time record of 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.2 degrees Celsius) this weekend
Treating tourists for dehydration in Nevada
Dr. Ashkan Morim, who works in the emergency room at Dignity Health Siena Hospital in suburban Henderson, Nevada, spoke Friday about treating tourists this week who spent too much time drinking by pools and became severely dehydrated, and a stranded hiker who needed gallons of fluids to regain his strength.
Nearly 110,000 people, or about a third of Americans, were under extreme heat watches, watches and warnings on Saturday as the scorching heat wave is forecast to worsen this weekend in Nevada, Arizona and California. Temperatures in some desert areas were predicted to soar in parts past 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius) during the day, and remain in the 90s (above 32.2 C) overnight .
Hot, dry conditions sparked a spate of fires in Southern California, where firefighters on Saturday battled three separate wildfires that started Friday afternoon amid the hottest weather of the year so far. The fires are mostly in rural areas of Riverside County, southeast of Los Angeles.
Phoenix marked the city’s 15th straight day with temperatures of 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) or higher on Friday, reaching 116 degrees Fahrenheit (46.6 degrees Celsius) by late afternoon, putting it on track. to exceed the longest measured stretch of such heat. The record is 18 days, recorded in 1974.
The heat was expected to continue into next week.
Regional health officials in Las Vegas released a new database Thursday to report “heat-caused” and “heat-related” deaths in the city and surrounding Clark County from April through October.
The Southern Nevada Health District said seven people have died since April 11, and a total of 152 deaths last year were determined to be heat-related.
Arizona’s Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, reported this week that 12 heat-related deaths have been confirmed so far this year since April, half of them homeless. Another 55 deaths are under investigation.
There were 425 confirmed heat-related deaths in Maricopa County last year, with more than half of them occurring in July. Eighty percent of deaths occurred outdoors.
Closer to the Pacific coast, the temperatures were less severe, but they have still led to sweaty days on picket lines in the Los Angeles area, where actors joined writers in strikes against producers.
In Sacramento, the California State Fair began with the cancellation of planned horse racing events by organizers due to concerns for the safety of the animals. Pet owners across the Southwest were urged to keep their animals mostly indoors.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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