Deadly Heat Wave Bakes Much of United States

By Michael Conlon

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Oppressive heat baked the United States from the mountainous West to the Atlantic seaboard on Tuesday, straining power supplies and killing the young and old alike.

One safety group said 27 children have died so far this year from heatstroke after being left inside cars, including a 3-year-old Missouri boy left inside a vehicle on Sunday while his parents went to church.

In Missouri, 15 heat-related deaths have been reported, seven of them in the Kansas City area alone. The dead in recent days included an 85-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man. Both were found in their homes where neither had air conditioning and had been using fans to try to keep cool.

Urban centers, which have recorded dozens of heat-related fatalities so far this summer, asked residents to look in on elderly neighbors and opened air-conditioned public buildings as cooling centers for relief.

In Washington, tourists sought shelter in air-conditioned hotels. In Minnesota, 85-year-old heat records toppled. And in New York City, officials kept public swimming pools open into the evening.

``Take as much of your clothes off as you're legally allowed to do,'' New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (news - web sites) told reporters at his daily briefing. ``I emphasize the last part of that -- legally allowed to do.''

Across the nation, high school and middle school students began drills for football and other autumn sports under the eyes of coaches sobered by the heatstroke death of Minnesota Vikings professional football player Korey Stringer.

The U.S. Agriculture Department reported declines in corn and soybean crops as temperatures soared well above 90 F with stifling humidity across much of the continent.

The mercury on Monday hit 100 F in Alpena, Michigan, 102 F in Boise, Idaho, and 113 F in Phoenix, Arizona.

RECORD BROKEN

It was sizzling again in Minneapolis-St. Paul where Monday's high of 99 F broke a record for that date that had stood since 1916. The heat strained the area's power system, with more than 50,000 customers losing power on Sunday into Monday. About 17,000 people were still without power on Tuesday morning.

President Bush (news - web sites), vacationing at his Texas ranch, welcomed the heat as it hit 100 F.

``This is Texas. I know a lot of you wish you were in the East Coast, lounging on the beaches, sucking in the salt air. But when you're from Texas, and love Texas, this is where you come home. This is my home,'' he told reporters.

It was somewhat cooler in parts of the normally steamy South where the remnants of tropical storm Barry spread clouds and rain.

But there was no relief to be found north of the border, where Toronto, Canada's most populous city, declared its first heat emergency of the year.

``We expect that there would be four to five deaths per day during a heat emergency,'' said a spokeswoman for the Toronto's Public Health Department. Temperatures were expected to hit 95 F Tuesday in Toronto where outdoor water use has been restricted because of falling reservoir levels.

HEAT WAVE UNTIL FRIDAY

The National Weather Service (news - web sites) expected temperatures to climb well above 90 F in Washington, with the heat wave expected to last until Friday.

Electricity companies expected the heat to generate record demand above 53,000 Megawatts in the Mid-Atlantic region, which would break an unofficial high set on Monday, according to the PJM Interconnection Association, the manager of the wholesale bulk power grid for Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Grid operators from Washington to Boston said they expect the heat to set power demand records, but did not anticipate blackouts since they still have several options available to reduce power usage during a heat wave.

Washington workers thirsted for cold drinks on their way to work. Sales of frozen coffee drinks at a downtown Starbucks climbed by 30 to 40 drinks in the early morning, according to shift manager Fern Jones.

Downtown vendors prepared to sell more bottles of water, but some worried that the customers would remain inside.

``Not much business yesterday,'' said Hiep Vo, a downtown vendor. ``I think, 'Hot, I sell good,' but no. I have water left yesterday.''

Outside the White House, Deidre Schiazza of Freehold, New Jersey, gave juice boxes and water bottles to her three children and niece, who wore brightly colored sunglasses and visors.

``In the middle of the day, we're probably going to go back to the hotel and swim a little bit,'' she said.

New York City officials opened about 400 air-conditioned cooling centers -- public buildings such as school gyms -- for 12 hours a day for residents who wanted a place to escape from the searing heat.

In addition, dozens of public pools were being opened for an extra hour in the evenings until 8 p.m. EDT.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

Answers

I think my email addy says it all, LOL.

There's a town near here that sometimes has a "swim-in theatre". The audience watches the movie in the pool on innertubes, rafts or floating chairs. They don't allow popcorn because it clogs up the filters, but the sno-cones are popular.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

Hey, what a GREAT idea!

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

BTW, tomorrow we are forecast to have heat indices in the 105-110 range and we will have a Code Red ozone alert.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

I wonder why it cooler here in Alabama. We have this type of hot weather most summers but not this year. It hot but not as hot a usual.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Boy am I glad we fixed the A/C!!! That Monday was the pits!

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001