Staying cool during hot times

If you like heat, today will be another scorcher, with temperatures flirting with the 100-degree mark, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Mitchell.
“We’re going to get well into the 90s and some areas away from the lake might be higher,” Mitchell said.
The 95 degrees recorded at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Friday missed beating the record 98 degrees in 1988, a particularly hot summer, Mitchell said.
So far, average temperatures this July have been 78.8 degrees — 5.8 degrees above the average of 73 degrees, he said.
That’s the second-hottest average temperature on record, following 1955, when the average temperature was 79.1, Mitchell said.
On Friday, crowds flocked to pools and Lake Erie to seek relief.
But the heat got the better of a number of people who turned up at area emergency rooms.
“There’s always a big influx of people to ERs when it’s very hot out — a heat wave,” said Dr. Marion Carroll of EMH Medical Center in Elyria.
The elderly and those with respiratory issues have particular trouble, she said.
Carroll said she treated several people with heat-related symptoms Friday and two people with prior respiratory problems were admitted to the hospital.
Elyria Health Commissioner Kathryn Boylan encouraged people to spend time at the library or at the mall window shopping if they don’t have air conditioning and conditions become unbearable at home.
Meanwhile, Ohio Edison reported no brownouts or blackouts due to high usage, said spokesman Gary Mortus.
Mortus said about 130 people were without power Friday, including 74 in Lorain and 27 in Elyria relating to transformer problems or accidents in which vehicles struck utility poles.
“We have crews working 24-7,” Mortus said.
Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.