Temperatures around 48 degrees and pavements so hot they cause burns. The record heat in Phoenix, Arizona, is hitting the city’s homeless particularly hard.
– If they don’t find somewhere to cool off, they die, says Rudy Soliz, director of a center for elderly homeless people.
The city center is deserted. Joggers and dog owners are forced to go out in the middle of the night to escape the worst of the heat. Phoenix, Arizona broke sweaty records this week. On Tuesday, a new maximum temperature of 47.8 degrees was measured. On Thursday, the temperature had reached at least 43 degrees for 21 consecutive days, also a record.
Especially affected by the heat are the homeless – a growing group in Phoenix, which is the fifth largest city in the United States.
– If they don’t find somewhere to cool off, they die, says Rudy Soliz, director of the Justa Center, a facility for the elderly homeless in Phoenix.
Twelve dead
The center is located in an area known as “the zone,” where homeless people live in tents that line the sidewalks alongside shopping carts and piles of rubble. There are hardly any trees here to provide shade and homeless people who have slept on the sidewalks have suffered burns.
– The fire brigade comes here all the time to help people with heat stroke. As far as I know, three people have died in the area this summer, says Rudy Soliz.
– Often it is a combination of drugs and heat.
In the Phoenix area, twelve heat-related deaths have been reported through mid-June. Half of them were homeless. In addition, a further 40 cases where heat may have contributed to deaths are being investigated.