Rising Temperatures Threaten More Than Misery for Oldest Americans
When the torrential rain stopped on Friday afternoon, Laura Lowry could see the steam rising off the wet pavement. She was on her front porch in the Fifth Ward neighborhood of Houston, desperate for relief from the relentless humidity and 91-degree heat. The air-conditioner in her house worked, but she and her husband, reliant on disability checks, couldn’t afford to run it.
The lack of cool air wasn’t simply a matter of discomfort for Ms. Lowry, 73. It was dangerous. Just a few weeks ago, there had been a terrifying moment when she was so taxed by the heat after waiting outside a food pantry that she had slumped into her porch chair as soon as she got home. “I couldn’t make it inside,” she said. “I felt like I was passing out.”
Another wave of dangerous heat sweeping across the South and into the West this week has posed particular perils for older people, who are among the most vulnerable to such extreme conditions.
Source: The New York Times
