BY JOHN HOPKINS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jay Morelock, 14, plays with his brother Josh, 7, at Evendale recreation Center.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
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Ringing telephones greeted employees at St. John Social Service Center in Over-the-Rhine as they arrived Friday morning.
Callers needed fans, they wanted air conditioners -- anything that would bring relief from the heat, said St. John's Tara Robinson.
"We have 33 messages on our answering machines," she said. "People are really suffering."
Temperatures again soared to the mid-90s Friday, contributing to a Cincinnati heat emergency and a Hamilton County smog alert.
Most of the eastern half of the United States was enveloped in the same heat wave. Factories in the industrial Midwest were forced to shut down or scale back production, and utility companies in nearly every Midwestern and Northeastern state urged customers to turn down their air conditioners to conserve energy.
A repeat performance is expected today, with highs forecast in the low- to mid-90s. Some relief in the form of thunderstorms could arrive Sunday, but the high heat and humidity likely will remain until Tuesday.
The smog alert, declared by Hamilton County Environmental Services, lasts through today.
Cincinnati's commissioner of health cited the temperature and humidity over two days as cause for the heat emergency.
"At these levels, the health and safety of the community require that residents be aware and responsive to risks due to prolonged exposure to heat and to undue physical exertion," said Dr. Malcolm Adcock, commissioner of health.
Throughout the area, the hot topic Friday was the heat.
- Motorists reported that patches of roadway on I-75 and I-74 buckled under the heat. Although such buckling has occurred before, Tom Klug, an Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) spokesman, said, there were no confirmed reports of it happening Friday.
- There was at least one report of juveniles turning on a fire hydrant to cool off.
- Horse-drawn carriage tours downtown were shut down for the day.
In Price Hill, the recreation center on Hawthorne Avenue became one of many "cool centers" around the city, coordinated through the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. The center, which had an increase in visitors Friday, will be open today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Many city recreation centers are cool centers. Call 352-4001 for information. The Cincinnati Health Department was busy tracking heat-related emergencies.
St. Elizabeth Medical Center's north and south units in Kentucky reported no heat-related cases Friday afternoon. Jewish Hospital had treated one person for sunburn and University Hospital reported treating a couple of respiratory problems, said Gail Myers, spokeswoman for the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati.
Hamilton County Environmental Services officials are asking Cincinnati-area residents to cut down on smog-causing activities. "We still have conditions that are natural for the creation of ozone, so we still want to keep the alert in effect for Saturday," said Jennifer Bailey, public affairs coordinator.
She encouraged residents to reduce automobile trips today because vehicles contribute to smog creation.
She also discouraged mowing the lawn.
"I think it's really important on a Saturday, because that is the day people tend to want to take out the lawn mower and do the lawn. One lawn mower puts out 40 percent more VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) than an automobile."
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WEATHER PAGE
