As global warming brings extreme heat waves and rising temperatures, emergency managers must be aware of how the new climate may affect their communities. A report released by the National Wildlife Federation and Physicians for Social Responsibility outlined 30 U.S. cities that are considered especially vulnerable to global warming.
The report, More Extreme Heat Waves: Global Warming's Wake Up Call, also addresses how the warmer climate will affect very old and very young citizens — other vulnerable populations include the poor, those who live in large cities, and people with asthma or heart disease.
“I think this report makes it clear that emergency management in the future is going to be about a lot more than hurricanes and floods and the types of things that managers deal with most of their time now,” said Amanda Staudt, climate scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. “And that there are some steps that we can be doing to prepare for more extreme heat waves in the future.”
According to the report, in July of 1995, Chicago experienced a five-day heat wave during which approximately 739 people died and 3,300 people visited the emergency room with heat-related ailments. The report said that many of the victims were the elderly poor who lived in the city and either lacked air conditioning or couldn’t afford to turn it on. Staudt said in 1999 the city experienced another heat wave that almost mimicked the conditions of the one in 1995. But in 1999, there were approximately 114 casualties. “And that’s because they got out early with their heat watch warnings and announcements, and they were much more forceful about the wording of the announcements,” she said, adding that the city had other measures in place to combat the heat wave, but in 1995 one of the main issues was that the city was slow to react and didn’t take it seriously.
“We are going to have more heat waves and more of these extremely hot days, and there are measures that we’ll need to do to adapt to those changes,” Staudt said. “But the other important message is that we can make a difference in terms of how many hot days we have in the future by making good choices now about our global warming pollution. Heat waves, I think, are one of the most dramatic cases where taking steps as soon as possible to reduce our use of fossil fuel and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions can make a huge difference in the impacts down the road.”
According to Staudt, other steps that emergency managers and state and local governments can start taking to combat the effects of climate change include:
• developing heat watch warning systems;
• personalized outreach to at-risk citizens, like going door to door to provide information about heat waves;
• establishing public cooling places;
• working with power companies to ensure that citizens’ power isn’t turned off during a heat wave due to nonpayment of bills; and
• providing low-income residents with cooling assistance, like improving insulation in their homes.
She also suggested that cities start building more green space, like parks, and planting trees, which will reduce the urban heat island effect — meaning built-up areas are hotter than nearby rural areas. Another idea is to make roofs green by covering them with plants and gardens. “There’s one study that looked at two adjacent roofs in Chicago, one with a green roof which is covered with plants and gardens and one that’s a traditional, conventional roof, and during a hot day, the temperature difference can be as much as 70 degrees Fahrenheit,” Staudt said.
At-Risk Cities
The cities cited in the report that will likely suffer the worst effects of global warming are:
• Boston
• Charlotte, N.C.
• Dallas
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Sacramento, Calif.
• San Diego
• Austin, Texas
• Baltimore
• Buffalo, N.Y.
• Chicago
• Detroit
• Memphis, Tenn.
• Oklahoma City
• St. Louis
• Tulsa, Okla.
• Washington, D.C.
• Atlanta
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
• Las Vegas
• Louisville, Ky.
• New Orleans
• Pittsburgh
• Raleigh, N.C.
• San Antonio
• Toledo, Ohio
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