Much-needed rain could offer a small reprieve to the ongoing drought, but health officials say residents must maintain their vigilance against the ongoing oppressive heat.
Heavy showers Thursday caused flash flooding across the region after weeks of little to no rain, according to the National Weather Service. Between 2-3 inches of rain fell across the region, with 2.44 inches falling at the U.S. Geological Survey gauge at the Tar River in Greenville. Another inch of rain was possible Friday and Saturday.
That stands in contrast to data from the State Climate Office that shows the first six months of 2024 were the fifth driest in 106 years of records in Pitt County. June brought .45 total inches of rain. Only three days — June 3, 6 and 7 — saw measurable rainfall and there was a 23-day stretch without rain from June 7-July 1.
That streak snapped July 1 when the weather service recorded .29 inches of precipitation in Greenville. The service also recorded .02 inches on July 6. Rain this week is the most significant so far this summer.
Conditions are expected to dry out again starting on Sunday, not counting humidity. Along with less rain, heat is expected to return with Sunday at 96, Monday at 97, Tuesday at 98 and Wednesday at 97, according to the weather service. Triple-digit heat indexes that accompany will be life-threatening.
“Death can occur on what we could consider a milder day,” said Ellen Walston Injury Prevention Specialist with ECU Health. “It’s cooler, it’s cloudy, it’s not that blistering 90-degree heat. My message would be don’t let your guard down. ...”
While temperatures fell below 90 starting on Thursday, heat has blistered the region along with the rest of the country. From July 1-10 there were four heat-related patient encounters at ECU Health Medical Center’s emergency department and 15 heat-related patient encounters at the emergency rooms across the health system’s eight regional hospitals.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services publishes a weekly statewide Heat-Related Illness Surveillance Report from May 1-Sept. 30 using data from NC DETECT, a statewide public health surveillance system that monitors seven regions. The most recent data, from June 23-29, showed 559 heat-related illness visits to emergency departments statewide in that time.
The number of visits from June 23-29 in the northeastern NC region, which includes Pitt County, was 57. Emergency room visit rates for heat-related illness were highest among males aged 25-44 both statewide and in the northeastern region.
Max heat indexes for the week of June 23-29 statewide ranged from 89.6 degrees to 106.3 degrees at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, according to the report. For the region of northeastern North Carolina, of which Pitt County is a part, max heat indexes that week ranged from 93.2-105.2 degrees at the Pitt-Greenville Airport.
Walston said that her work focuses on children but cautioned that adults also must be mindful of their bodies. That includes proper hydration — drinking water throughout the day not only when thirsty — and being aware of signs like clamminess, nausea, ashen skin or dizziness that can stem from heat. She cautioned laborers to take frequent breaks in the shade and to never work through a mandated stoppage of work.
Walston also said that if someone notices a child, coworker or other person begin to exhibit symptoms of heat exhaustion or another illness, they should be given fluids and moved somewhere they can cool down such as the shade or air conditioning.
The highest number of visits at North Carolina emergency departments per capita from June 23-29 happened in the Fayetteville area, with the most frequent heat-related diagnosis being heat exhaustion at 188 of the 559 visits.
On Wednesday, WRAL News and other outlets reported that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating the death of Wednesday Johnson, 51, a U.S. Postal Service worker in Fatetteville, as heat-related. Johnson died on June 6, reports said.
The rate of emergency department visits for 2024 was higher than the historical average from 2019-2023, which for the week of June 29 sat at about 3 per 100,000 people, compared to 5 per 100,000 the same week in 2024. Rates began to trend higher than the average beginning the week of June 8 and have remained higher since, with June 29 showing greatest increase.
The cumulative NC DETECT report from 2023 said there were 3,925 emergency department visits for heat-related illness identified that year, with most visits in the Piedmont and Coastal regions. A total of 1,393, or 59 percent, of those visits were for heat exhaustion. Heat syncope accounted for 284 visits, about 12 percent. “Other effects” accounted for 545 visits, 23 percent and heat stroke accounted for three percent.
In 2023 less than one fifth of a percent of emergency department visits were for heat-related illness, a similar number to 2022 and the 2018-2022 average proportion.
Residents can sign up for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Heat Health Alert System online to receive alerts via email when forecasts are projected to reach unhealthy levels.
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