The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat
warnings for a huge section of the country, from Kansas to Maine, forecasting
temperatures near or at 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) Friday and into the
weekend.
The high temperatures and smothering humidity will force up
the heat indexes.
In New York, people looking to beat the heat were thwarted
by warnings urging them to avoid city waterways after a wastewater treatment
plant disabled by fire began spewing millions of gallons of raw sewage into the
Hudson River.
Officials cautioned against swimming and bathing at city
beaches, especially for people with medical conditions.
Across the US, emergency room visits were way up, according
to public health officials, mainly because of people suffering from heat
exhaustion and heat stroke.
The weather is suspected of contributing to a number of
deaths nationwide. At least six more fatalities were reported Thursday,
including a Michigan restaurant cook who suffered a heart attack after being sent
home from his job and a teenage boy who drowned while swimming at summer camp
in the same state.
A Pittsburgh man slipped as he worked on the roof of his
cousin’s home on Thursday and found himself stuck for nearly two hours because
of the hot tar he’d been using.
Lamont Robinson said the slick tar kept him from climbing to
safety after he slipped. He said he was “baking like a turkey” before his
rescue.
In Connecticut, a dozen Girl Scouts were treated for
heat-related problems at a scout camp.
None of the girls required hospitalization, but New
Fairfield First Selectman John Hodge says they spent Thursday night in the
camp’s cafeteria after workers brought in industrial fans to help cool them
off.
A blown electrical transformer in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale
forced several senior citizens to sleep Wednesday night in the community room
of their six-story apartment building after the power failed.
On Thursday morning, Lisa Blumentritt ventured back into her
third-floor unit.
“You couldn’t breathe,” she said at a nearby cooling center.
While the current heat wave has recorded 12 all-time daily
highs so far this month, it also has registered 98 all-time overnight highs,
the NOAA reported at a briefing Thursday.
