A DAY LATE, BUT HEAT WAVE IS COMING
With a heat wave bearing down on Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot passionately warned parents Thursday morning: “Don’t leave your children in cars.”
And should you find an unresponsive kid in a closed car, don’t hesitate, she said.
“If you stumble upon something like that, by any means necessary, get the kid out of the car and call 911,” Lightfoot said at a news conference to remind residents to look after one another and take advantage of city services, such as cooling centers, to escape the heat.
A National Weather Service excessive heat warning had been set to take effect Thursday but was pushed back when stronger-than-expected cooling rains hit the area. Now, it is scheduled to start Friday at 10 a.m., lasting through 7 p.m. Saturday.
Daytime temperatures during that stretch are expected to rise into the 90s, with heat indexes — how hot it actually feels when factoring in humidity — reaching about 110 degrees.
The city’s heat response is “all hands on deck,” said Lightfoot, flanked by various department heads while addressing reporters at the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications in the West Loop.
“These are life-threatening temperatures and conditions, and we all have to work together to remain safe,” she said.
City officials offered a laundry list of tips. Check on neighbors, especially the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and sick. Overweight people and infants also are especially vulnerable to the heat.
Call 311 to request a well-being check, locate a cooling center or request transport to a cooling center.
All six cooling centers operated by the city will have extended hours, staying open until 7 p.m. Friday instead of the usual 5 p.m.
The importance of air conditioning can’t be stressed enough, said Dr. Allison Arwady of the Chicago Department of Health.
“Do not rely on a fan when the weather is this hot,” she said.
A number of public buildings such as libraries, park district field houses and police stations are also available to cool down.
“We’ve come a long way since 1995,” Lightfoot said, referring to a heat wave that killed 793 people, most of them poor and elderly residents living alone. “But we’re only as good as extending our outreach and getting the word out to community members.”
Anyone spending time outside should drink at least two to four cups of water every hour, Arwady said.