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Like New York The city is preparing to Severe heat wave The middle of the July 4th weekend and World Cup During the celebrations, government officials and local hospitals step up their efforts to prevent heat-related illnesses.
Temperatures are expected to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) by Thursday, with a heat index between 105 and 110 degrees — unusually hot for New York. Friday is expected to be very hot.
“These are very dangerous conditions, and they will affect every part of our city,” New York City Mayor Zahran Mamdani said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Many major cities have heat emergency plans that include setting up cooling centers, communicating with at-risk residents, and sending emergency alerts. As heat waves become more severe and common as the planet warms, more cities are writing and implementing these types of plans to keep residents safe.
This year, New York City activated its emergency heat plan for the first time on May 19 — the soonest it will ever do so — due to an intense spring heatwave that pushed temperatures past the 90-degree mark across the Northeast. She activated that plan again in preparation for the latest heat wave.
As part of that emergency plan, more than 650 people will be in the city Refrigeration plants Christina Farrell, New York City’s emergency management commissioner, says it’s ready to go, including in libraries, entertainment centers and Petco stores, as well as some additional “non-traditional” cooling plants, which include government buildings. She says extreme heat warnings are becoming more common in New York.
The Mamdani administration is deploying refrigerator vans throughout the city to provide health screenings, medical care, water, electrolytes and sunscreen, as well as transportation to cooling centers or health care facilities. LinkNYC kiosks, which have replaced old payphones throughout the city, will also be programmed to display walking directions to the nearest cooling centre, another new initiative under Mamdani.
To help the grid handle more residential cooling demand, business owners are being asked to set their thermostats to 78 degrees, which is what the Department of Energy recommends during peak summer months.
City Department of Social Services staff will conduct in-person outreach to unhoused people. Individuals requiring short-term housing will not be required to go through typical admission procedures to shelters under the heating plan.
Philadelphia is also bracing for extreme heat. The city – which is hosting a World Cup match on July 4 – has activated its emergency heat plan and moved its FIFA Fan Fest hours to the evening. The city will have refrigeration, tents, free water filling stations, shaded areas and multiple medical stations for fans. However, the match between Paraguay and France will start at 5pm ET, with the temperature expected to remain well above 100 degrees with heat and humidity.
The risk of heat-related death and illness is expected to increase as the frequency and severity of extreme heat events increase. A Recent study A study from Yale University found that heat-related deaths have nearly doubled in the United States over the past two decades, from an annual average of 2,670 between 2000 and 2009, to more than 4,000 between 2010 and 2020. Most heat-related deaths occur indoors after prolonged exposure to heat without air conditioning.
New York’s emergency departments say they are preparing to handle a surge in patients with severe heat illness in the coming days.
Eric Bluttinger, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Mount Sinai Queens, says the hospital is stocking up on towels, fans and other supplies to make sure patients with heat sickness can be treated appropriately. He says it’s important for people to be able to recognize the symptoms of heat-related illness so they can seek treatment as soon as possible.
