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Mo. heat stirs emergency measures

With power outages making a heat wave even worse, the governor opens shelters and sends the National Guard to evacuate victims.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 21, 2006

ST. LOUIS - Missouri's governor sent in the National Guard to evacuate people from their sweltering homes Thursday after storms knocked out power to nearly half a million St. Louis-area households and businesses in the middle of a searing heat wave.

With forecasters expecting another day of 100-degree heat, utility crews raced to restore electricity, and Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency, granting the mayor's request to send 250 troops to take people to air-conditioned public buildings and to clear debris.

"We can't overemphasize the danger of this heat," Mayor Francis Slay said. "The longer the heat goes on and the power is out, the riskier it is."

The heat wave has been blamed for at least 19 deaths across the country in the last week.

Police used public-address speakers from their squad cars to announce locations of the community centers and other places designated as cooling centers. Volunteers went door to door, checking on people with no power to run fans or air conditioners.

Utility workers urged customers to find a cool place to stay. They said power could be out in some areas for three to five days.

By midmorning, the temperature was 90, with a predicted high of 103. The region could get some relief today, when the high was expected to drop to 88.

The storms tore through the city a day earlier, ripping off a section of airport roof and dumping it on a highway. Windows were blown out of a hotel restaurant and a press box at baseball's Busch Stadium. At least three buildings collapsed, and more than 30 people were injured.

"I've never seen this many people without power, this much debris, buildings collapsed, lines down," the mayor said.

By midday, power had been restored to just over 100,000 customers, but new reports of outages kept coming in.

St. Louis-based AmerenUE, the utility serving Missouri and Illinois, said it would restore power to hospitals, nursing homes, water-treatment plants and other "critical facilities" first. "If you're out of power, go to family, a friend or a cooling shelter," company vice president Richard Mark said. "Take whatever means necessary, but stay out of your home."

City health director William Kincaid cautioned that the city's older housing, much of it made of red brick, can heat up like furnaces in the summer heat.

"It could be a very dangerous day," police Chief Joe Mokwa said.

John Swapshire, 39, grabbed the next-to-last window fan at a hardware store for $14.99. The electricity at his home was out, but he had a gas-powered generator.

"I had to go to six stores to get this. They were either closed because of the electricity or sold out," Swapshire said. "I don't think you can buy a cube of ice in all of St. Louis, either."

Stanley Shelton, 53, found a cool spot under a tree in a downtown park.

"I've never experienced anything like this. I don't know anyone with power," Shelton said. "I'll just sit in my yard with a big jug of water and wait for it to pass."

The death toll from the heat wave that has gripped the country for the past week rose to at least 19 in seven states. Four more people died in the Chicago area, bringing the total there to seven. Two have died in the Philadelphia area, two in Oklahoma City, two in Arkansas, two in Indiana and one each in South Dakota and Tennessee.

In St. Louis, officials reported the death of a 93-year-old woman who had air conditioning but no power. In Indiana, a 25-year-old woman taking medications that might have affected her body's ability to stay cool died from heat exposure when temperatures inside her apartment reached 100 degrees.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 23:51:25]