TERRE HAUTE —
In extreme weather, such as this week’s 100-plus degree heat, the poorest people in the community survive as best they can.
A 59-year-old Terre Haute man who did not want to give his name but said he is homeless, spent most of Thursday inside the Vigo County Public Library to keep cool. It’s a place he often visits in all kinds of weather, hot and cold.
“I read a lot,” he said after leaving the library Thursday afternoon to “stretch his legs” in the then 104-degree afternoon sun. The night before, the man, who said he sleeps in a “tent in the woods,” said temperatures did not cool to a tolerable level outside until about 2 a.m.
“I know people who sit up in [public places] or on their porches” to try and stay cool, he said, adding he usually spends the late evenings sitting in a downtown fast food restaurant until it closes at midnight.
“I see it all,” he said. “People who got it all, they don’t see it.”
Temperatures were expected to be about 100 degrees for the next several days, according to the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. The high temperature Thursday was 106, a record by three degrees for June 28 in Terre Haute. The past record had lasted since 1934.
In response to the extreme heat, the Red Cross of the Wabash Valley and the Vigo County Salvation Army are providing emergency “cooling shelters.”
The Vigo County Salvation Army at 234 S. Eighth St. in Terre Haute will be open for anyone needing a cool place today through at least Monday, said Cpt. Cindy Hoag of the Vigo Salvation Army. The cooling shelter will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“We’ve seen such an increase of people in need coming in our door,” Hoag said Thursday explaining why the Salvation Army was also opening a cooling shelter in the current heat wave. “We’ve been seeing a lot of people carrying their suitcases and walking in this heat,” she said, adding the Salvation Army cooling shelter may remain open past 6 p.m. if the need is there.
“It seems to get hotter in the late afternoon,” she said.
The Salvation Army is also staffing a cooling shelter today at the First Christian Church Annex in Sullivan, said Jim Pirtle, director of the Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency. That shelter, located on Broad Street, will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Wabash Valley Red Cross building on South Third Street in Terre Haute is also being used today as a cooling shelter. The Red Cross is also providing water to another cooling shelter today at the Putnam County hospital in Greencastle.
Cooling shelters are also available today in the Greene County towns of Jasonville, Linton and Bloomfield.
For the most part, people in Greene County are staying indoors due to the heat, said Dave Rollison, deputy director of the Greene County EMA.
“If you use some common sense, drink plenty of water or sports drinks, you’re fine,” Rollison said, adding it’s important to avoid alcohol, caffeinated drinks and “extreme activities” outdoors.
Some people, because of their jobs, have no choice but to be outside, even in the extreme heat.
Adam Dove, a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, was delivering mail on North 13th Street in Terre Haute Thursday afternoon while the temperature was about 104 degrees.
“It’s just like any other day,” Dove said smiling as he walked up the sidewalk near the former Chauncey Rose Middle School. “As long as you avoid going in and out of air conditioning, you’re all right,” he said. “Your body gets used to it.”
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
News
Related Photos
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Cooling off: Tristan Zellers keeps his cool in the fountain on the Indiana State University campus Thursday morning. He was there with his parents Andrew and Penny of Anderson. (Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis)
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Hot: The temperature sign in Seelyville shows 104 degrees Thursday afternoon about 3 p.m.
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Sign: Sign on the door of the American Red Cross office.
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Slow flow: The waters of Big Walnut Creek flow past the wells that are used to provide water for the city of Brazil and others. On Thursday the flow in Big Walnut was under 9 cubic feet per second well upstream at Roachdale. The algae on the sandbar in the foreground is dead or dying.
Discussion
106: Thursday high temperature surpasses previous mark of 103˚in 1934
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