Midwest Can't Get Relief From Oppressive Heat

Midwest Can't Get Relief From Oppressive Heat

Swimmers try to keep cool in near 100 degree temperatures at Red Oaks Waterpark in Madison Heights, Mich.

By DINESH RAMDE, Associated Press

MILWAUKEE (AP) â€" The temperatures in Casimir Brandon's basement bedroom were so stifling that the exhausted 56-year-old Madison man began riding city buses in the morning, from one end of the line to the other, so he could grab a few hours of air-conditioned sleep.

Brandon is among those searching for any kind of relief as oppressive heat slams the middle of the country with record temperatures that aren't going away after the sun goes down. So when the city of Madison transformed a vacant convention center into a 24-hour cooling center, Brandon jumped at the chance to sleep in comfort.

[PHOTOS: Summer Heat Arrives in Full Force.]

"I had a cot there, but I gave it up to a lady who had a kid," said Brandon. "But it's OK. I just lined up six chairs and slept like a baby. I was just so tired from the previous two days that it wasn't a problem at all."

St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago and several other Midwest cities already have set record highs this week or are on the verge of doing so. And with even low temperatures setting heat records, residents are left searching for any relief.

In the McDonough Homes public housing project in St. Paul, Minn., Chue Yang, his wife, their 8-year-old son and 11- and 12-year-old daughters have taken refuge in the children's bedroom, which has the only air conditioner in their townhome.

"We don't want to cook because it's too hot, so we stay in the bedroom," Yang, 38, said Thursday, as he rested in the air-conditioned lobby at the McDonough Recreation Center. "That's all. We don't have anything to do."

The National Weather Service issued excessive-heat warnings Thursday for all of Illinois and Indiana, as well as parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. Forecasts called for daytime temperatures from the mid- to high 90s into the low 100s.

St. Louis hit a record high of 105 on Wednesday and a record low of 83. In Wisconsin, the coolest Milwaukee and Madison got was 81 in the early morning, beating previous low records by 2 and 4 degrees respectively. Temperatures didn't fall below 79 in Chicago, 78 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and 75 in Indianapolis.

"When a day starts out that warm it doesn't take as much time to reach high temperatures in the low 100s," said Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "You know it'll be a warm day when you start out at 80 degrees."

Many cities have tried to help by opening cooling centers and extending the hours for their public pools. Compounding the high heat in Michigan was damage wrought by storms. More than 300,000 homes and businesses across the state were without power Thursday.

In St. Louis, where three deaths have been blamed on the heat, officials have called about 4,000 residents, many of them elderly or disabled. For those who didn't answer their phones, officials went out in person to check on them. Dozens of cooling centers have been set up, a charity is providing air conditioners, and a utility-assistance program will help about 1,500 households get caught up on their electric bills.

"It's really about saving lives. That's really what all of these activities are directed at, to keep people safe and free from harm," said St. Louis Human Services Director Bill Siedhoff, who visited some of the homes with Mayor Francis Slay.

In Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium lost power Thursday as temperatures soared to 103 degrees, a record for July 5. Officials said emergency generators immediately kicked in and the outage never threatened any of animals, but several hundred visitors were sent back out into the heat.

Some people, particularly in the upper Midwest, said they don't normally need air conditioning in their homes and are trying to get by without buying one.