Heat Waves Are Deadlier Than Hurricanes. Make Them ‘Disasters.’
Extreme high temperatures like those hitting the Northeast kill quietly and efficiently and are just as worthy of federal relief as hurricanes and floods.
New York City is planning ahead for extreme heat this summer.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Unlike other natural disasters, extreme heat doesn’t topple buildings, flood streets or turn road signs into missiles. It doesn’t provide a dramatic backdrop for daredevil weather reporters. What it mostly does is kill people, quietly and efficiently. It’s long past time we respect its destructive power, which will only grow as a warming planet makes heat waves more frequent and intense.
This discussion is particularly relevant this week, as a “heat blob” that has punished Mexico and the Southwestern US for months creeps into the Midwest, Northeast and Canada, subjecting possibly 150 million people to unseasonably high temperatures for a miserable stretch of days.