As Heat Breaks, Gotham Mourns Those It Took

With the recent heat wave broken the city has now begun the unenviable task of counting bodies. And the news isn't so swell: As many as 13 New Yorkers may have had their lives cut short by the recent oppressive heat, though as of this morning the City was keeping the count at 10. Six of the dead lived in Brooklyn and the other four lived in Manhattan. The victims ranged in age from 42 to 86, and their deaths are mostly being blamed on tightly sealed apartments with poor ventilation and/or no AC. Such conditions can easily lead to advanced heat stroke, or hyperthermia. Further out on Long Island at least two other people were felled by the high temperatures.

Cases of heat stroke also surged over the past week:

Dr. Ernest Patti, an emergency medicine physician at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, said the hospital had been flooded this week with people sickened from the heat. On Thursday, a man in his 50’s whose body temperature had reached 107.9 degrees was taken to the hospital. Doctors were able to cool him down with spray bottles and fans.

On the political side of these losses Bloomberg, who yesterday morning was smug over how the city's "combination of careful planning and energy conservation" got the city through the heat, quickly toned down his rhetoric upon hearing of the deaths. A spokesperson told the Daily News that "the mayor's thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those we lost during the heat emergency." Ours too.

Liberty Moonset by kimyo via Contribute.