The heat wave scorching New York this week ranked among top natural hazard concerns in Monroe County, with nearly 56% of residents voicing concerns about rising threats from extreme temperatures, a recent survey found.
Growing fears of summer days becoming unbearable due to climate change underscored the urgent need to limit health and economic risks, according to the Monroe County hazard mitigation plan update in 2023.
The top two natural hazard concerns in Monroe County also centered around climate change, as people cited worries about increasingly severe storms and blizzards. Other top concerns involved disease outbreaks and invasive species, the survey found .
Who’s at risk of heat illness in Monroe County
Thousands of Rochester-area residents face heightened risks of heat exhaustion , heat stroke and other climate-related illness due to their age, housing circumstances, income, race and other factors, health records show.
All young children, older New Yorkers ages 65-plus and those with underlying illnesses are at the highest risks. But added threats from heat also extend to otherwise healthy folks of all ages living in poor neighborhoods with cramped housing and limited access to air conditioning or cooler tree-filled green spaces.
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Rural towns with pockets of isolated elderly residents and health care gaps also face unique heat-related threats . As do people working outdoors, as well as those with language barriers to understanding some heat alerts.
At the same time, some of the most detailed analysis of heat-related deaths comes from New York City, where Black residents have heat-stress death rates two times higher than white neighbors. Further, every day of extreme heat in the United States claims about 154 lives nationally, according to a 2022 study .
What is your heat vulnerability?
Everyone should become familiar with the heat-related risk factors in their community, health officials said, advising people to check a variety of websites designed to educate them about the heat vulnerability index.
One top tool is the federal HeatRisk portal , at cdc.gov, which allows for searching heat risks by Zip Code. It placed Monroe County and neighboring communities in the second-highest risk level of “major” Monday and Tuesday, before an expected jump to “extreme” on Wednesday and Thursday.
U.S. Census-tract level data for heat vulnerability is also mapped at the rochealthdata.org website, as health officials push to improve understanding of your “likelihood of harm during periods of hot weather.”
Monroe County began using the heat vulnerability index last summer to identify high-risk neighborhoods and provide bilingual heat alerts to them, county health officials said Monday in a statement, noting the county is monitoring local urgent cares and emergency rooms for any spikes in heat illnesses.
Is it heat exhaustion or heatstroke?
Catching signs of heat exhaustion early and treating them is key to preventing it from advancing to heatstroke, a life-threatening condition, health officials said, noting victims of both illnesses should receive medical care.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include: Headache, nausea and dizziness, as well as weakness and irritability.Thirst, heavy sweating, elevated body temperature and decreased urine output are also symptoms of the condition, which should result in victims being taken to a clinic or emergency room for medical evaluation and treatment.
Symptoms of heat stroke include: Confusion, altered mental status, slurred speech and loss of consciousness. Hot, dry skin or profuse sweating, as well as seizures very high body temperature are other heatstroke symptoms, which should prompt a call to 911 for emergency medical care.
For further details about identifying and treating heat illnesses, visit cdc.gov or health.ny.gov.
— USA TODAY Network contributed to this report .
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Heat wave targets most vulnerable in Monroe County
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