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East Braces for 100-Plus Degree Heat

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 August 2006, 12:00 CDT

By SAMANTHA GROSS

NEW YORK - Lights that decorate the East River bridges were switched off to save power as the city braced for potentially record temperatures - one of many conservation tactics as a stifling heat wave spread across the eastern half of the nation Tuesday.

Residents of states from the southern Plains into the Northeast braced for heat and humidity expected to reach unsafe levels, including highs likely to soar to around 100 in Washington, New York and other cities along the East Coast.

"It's going to be very difficult to breathe. The air is going to be very thick," said Nancy Figueroa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New York. "The young and the old should be very careful to stay in cool places, because it's very dangerous."

Gary Waxman fortified himself with towels and extra T-shirts Tuesday morning as he headed to work at his unair-conditioned newsstand in suburban White Plains.

"I'm ready for the wrath of nature," Waxman said.

Chicago officials evacuated hundreds of residents - many of them elderly - from blacked-out high-rises in a densely populated area of the city's South Side on Tuesday morning as temperatures were forecast to climb into the 90s for a fifth straight day.

"It's a mess," said Lenora Stinson, 47, who was in an 11th floor apartment when the power died. "It's a big mess. Everybody's panicking - they don't know where they're going."

About 350 of the most fragile evacuees were taken to hotels and 600 others were taken to the nearby McCormick Place convention center, said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Chicago officials said up to 20,000 people lost electricity beginning Monday evening. ComEd crews hoped to have power restored by Tuesday afternoon.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a heat emergency order Monday directing city agencies to take additional steps to protect residents. A network of some 380 cooling centers will stay open throughout the week and city pool hours are extended on days when the temperature exceeds 95.

The heat wave, similar to the one that blistered California last week, spread across the Midwest on Monday, endangering millions of people with outdoor jobs and prompting communities to throw air-conditioned buildings open to the public.

Temperatures across the Midwest and Plains approached or exceeded 100 degrees on Monday and the heat index - a measure of temperature plus humidity - passed 110 degrees in spots.

However, the heat had started to ease slightly on the northern Plains as the hottest air pushed toward the east. On Sunday, Bismarck, N.D., cooked at a record high of 112 degrees, but on Tuesday the 9 a.m. reading was only 65 and the forecast was for a high only in the lower 80s.

It was so hot in Cleveland on Monday that the city had to close a bridge over the Cuyahoga River during the evening rush hour because the steel expanded and the bridge's parts no longer fit properly together.

In Illinois, the Cook County medical examiner's office reported two heat-related deaths in the Chicago area on Monday, both men with heart disease, and a third death was reported in the central part of the state.

Oklahoma, authorities reported two deaths during the weekend and one woman died during the weekend in Missouri. That brought Missouri's total since July 12 and Oklahoma's to 13 since July 13, officials said.

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Associated Press Writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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