Hondula said a small team within his office was scouring the city, contacting people without shelter, delivering supplies and helping direct them to cooling centers for help.
“The status quo is simply not good enough. We have a lot more to do locally,” Hondula said, adding that he was concerned that critical nighttime temperatures were set to exceed 90 F for several more days. «The lack of respite has been a concern throughout this period.»
Meanwhile, local heat relief centers were seeing a surge in visits.
«We’re full,» said the Rev. Katie Sexton-Wood, executive director of the Arizona Faith Network, an interfaith nonprofit that organizes and operates 11 «heat relief centers» at Maricopa County places of worship.
Since May, 4,144 visitors have taken refuge in these centers, which normally work from 12:00 to 20:00 and offer sleeping mats, food, water and social workers. Trailers designed for showers and wellness checks visit each of the sites. Staff are trained to administer naloxone in the event of an overdose.
“It’s life-threatening to be outside in those temperatures. We’ve seen those numbers skyrocket in the last two weeks,” Sexton-Wood said of visits to participating churches, adding that each facility had moved its cooling center to larger rooms to accommodate demand.
Studies have shown that as the world warms, climate change increases the frequency, severity, and duration of extreme heat events. The return of a natural weather pattern known as El Niño is also expected to amplify extreme weather events this year.
President Joe Biden tweeted on Tuesday night that the heat was related to the ongoing climate crisis.
“Right now, families across America are experiencing the devastating effects of the climate crisis, from flooding to extreme heat,” he wrote.
The Berkeley Earth findings largely coincided with a separate report released last week by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service which found that both global surface air temperatures and sea surface temperatures were higher last month than any previous June on record.
The concerning new milestones were prompted by what the Berkeley Earth researchers said were particularly warm conditions in the North Atlantic, eastern equatorial Pacific, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, southern Africa and Antarctica. A prolonged heat wave also scorched much of the southern United States for weeks last month.
Scorching conditions are now further engulfing the country. Across the Southwest this week, residents sought relief after weeks of triple-digit temperatures.
For some, staying cool during the long, harsh heat wave remains a major challenge.
Maria Larumve Cruz lives in the Rancheria mobile home community in Phoenix. On Tuesday afternoon, when it was 108 F outside, conditions felt even hotter inside her trailer.
Cruz, 61, said she has diabetes and gets anxious in the heat.
«Because I’m afraid I’ll get heat stroke and die,» he said in an interview conducted in Spanish.
The dangers of extreme heat are clear to Cruz, who saw a neighbor get sick and die during the heat wave.
“She came home from the hospital after dialysis. She couldn’t take the heat,” Cruz said in Spanish. She “she She went to her room to wait for her daughter. But the woman couldn’t handle it, and when she arrived her daughter was dead.
The heat is expected to increase in the coming days in the southwest and in much of the southern part of the country.
Phoenix, which has already suffered for 12 straight days at 110 F or higher, is forecast to see temperatures spike as high as 118 F over the weekend.
«Temperatures are likely to reach record territory this weekend,» officials from the The Phoenix office of the National Weather Service tweeted Wednesday. «Be careful and practice good heat safety.»
Denise Chow reported from Vancouver, British Columbia; Seattle’s Evan Bush; and Erin McLaughlin of Phoenix.