NEW YORK – The same heat wave that was blamed for contributing to as many as 164 deaths in California brought a fifth straight day of oppressive weather Tuesday to the eastern half of the country.
Residents on Chicago’s South Side were evacuated from buildings by the hundreds, one day after the power went out to 20,000 customers. Illinois officials blamed three deaths on the heat.
The blistering temperatures also scorched Conyers, Ga., where a high school football player died one day after collapsing at practice.
The high temperature in Chicago on Tuesday was 99, Baltimore reached 100 and Washington, D.C., hit 98, though the humidity made it feel like 108. In New York, it was 95 in Central Park and 100 at LaGuardia Airport in Queens.
The National Weather Service said the mercury could reach 104 today, and Thursday could be bad, too.
Boston reached 94, and in Philadelphia the temperature was 98, with a heat index of 110. Atlanta sweltered at 95.
“This is a very dangerous heat wave,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It’s more than just uncomfortable. It can seriously threaten your life.”
With a disastrous 10-day power outage in Queens still fresh in memory, New York City adopted energy conservation measures. Thermostats in city offices were set at 78, up from the usual 72, and large municipal installations such as the Rikers Island jail used backup generators.
The New York skyline will reflect the cutbacks, with lights turned down on the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. The giant Pepsi-Cola sign on the Brooklyn waterfront was to be dimmed, as were the lights illuminating the George Washington Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge and other spans.
Ohio farmers used fans and cold showers to keep their cattle cool. Even with those efforts, the animals produced about 10 pounds less milk per day because of the heat, said farmer Clark Emmons of Fayette, Ohio.
In Richmond, Va., sheriff’s deputies bought 200 pounds of ice to offer some relief to jail inmates and used industrial exhaust fans to suck hot air out of their cells.
Associated Press
Volodymyr Aleksyeyev cools off with a slice of watermelon during a family picnic in Charlotte, N.Y., on Tuesday.
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