HEAT DEATHS 1995
1995 report focused attention on heat's real dangers
see also RECORD HEAT WAVE IN EUROPE TAKES 35,000 LIVES
By Jack Williams, USATODAY.com
The July 1995 heat wave, which was blamed for 465 heat-related deaths in Chicago and another 85 in Milwaukee helped focus attention on the real danger of heat.
Today, the National Weather Service and other authorities consider heat to be the leading weather-related cause of death. (Related: Understanding heat and its dangers).
But, unlike victims of floods, lightning, tornadoes or hurricane, those killed by the heat often are not recognized as victims of the weather.
This happens because only a few people are killed directly by heat. They are usually victims of heat stroke, which occurs when the body's core temperature rises to 105 degrees or higher.
Most heat victims are ill or elderly - often both - who die of other causes, such as heart attacks. But, health officials know that when a city that's not used to hot weather, such as Chicago, suffers though a heat wave, deaths go up, sometimes drastically.
Today, health authorities generally consider "excess" deaths during a heat wave to have been caused by the heat. In other words, while it's seldom possible to say the heat killed a particular person, it's safe to assume that if larger than usual numbers of people die during a heat wave, most of them were victims of the heat.
In 1995, reports of more than 400 deaths attracted attention and prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the parent agency of the National Weather Service, to conduct a Natural Disaster Survey Report.
NOAA makes such studies after any weather disaster to see what improvements might be needed.
The Disaster Survey Report issued April 12, 1996 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, looks in detail on what went wrong to allow heat to kill so many people in the USA, a nation with a highly developed system of using weather forecasts to cope with potential disasters. (Related: Full text of NOAA report on the 1995 heat wave).
"In both Chicago and Milwaukee, the National Weather Service issued warnings of the developing heat wave several days in advance, which were quickly broadcast by the local media," said Kathryn D. Sullivan, former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist and leader of the national disaster survey team."Given this advance warning, many, if not all, of the heat-related deaths associated with this event were preventable."
So what went wrong?
According to the report, in Chicago and Milwaukee, a heat wave of this magnitude is so unusual that it was not immediately recognized as a public health emergency.
It was, in some ways, an unprecedented, weather event because of its unusually high maximum and minimum temperatures and accompanying high relative humidities. "Unfortunately, a heat wave connotes discomfort, not violence; inconvenience, not alarm," said Sullivan.
Despite accurate National Weather Service warnings and advisories, which the local news media covered well, people either did not receive or know how to use the information.
Both Chicago and Milwaukee had extensive disaster preparedness plans for other weather events like floods or blizzards, but neither had an official plan for responding to heat emergencies.
The report recommended that the NWS focus preparedness efforts towards people who are most vulnerable to the dangers of heat. Among the most susceptible are the isolated elderly living in urban areas.
This is because cities such as Chicago and Milwaukee have many urban dwellings constructed of materials such as brick that may trap hot, humid air at dangerous levels.
The report also recommends that emergency response organizations at the federal, state and local levels recognize severe heat waves as potential natural disasters, and that areas at risk should be prompted to develop emergency response plans for severe heat waves.
Since 1995, the NWS has focused more attention on heat waves, and with working with local authorities to meet the dangers they pose.
From: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/whdie95.htm