US News
Sizzling, suffocating heat slows down life in US
By DPA
Aug 3, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - Street cafes were empty. Beaches in Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut dropped their admission charge.

Urban officials advised people to dress as lightly as possible, carry water bottles and find air conditioned refuge.

The nation's capital ran fewer Metro commuter trains and slowed them down to save electricity, meaning more crowded commuter conditions.

Such was life in the United States Wednesday as a record heat wave moved into the East Coast after killing 130 people in California last week. Temperatures of 37 degrees were common up and down the Atlantic seaboard on Tuesday and Wednesday, with more of the same expected in the coming days.

New York City extended hours at its 380 'cooling centres' and kept public pools open later than usual, New York 1 radio reported. The city planned to hand out bottles of water. Faced with huge demand for electricity to cool down interiors, urban officials urged energy conservation.

'This is a very serious, dangerous heat wave and we're all tough, but a little bit of common sense and a little bit of cooperation will go a long way here,' said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In Chicago, a 51-year-old man died of a heat stroke. More than 1,000 residents of poor neighbourhoods were evacuated from unairconditioned apartments into cooling centres. Utility employees were working double shifts to keep the system maintained.

New York's Empire State Building shut off its lights. The Chrysler building and bridges over the Hudson River followed suit.

Washington designated Wednesday a 'code red' day, meaning air pollution was bad enough to allow commuters to ride for free on busses to keep cars off the roads. Metro train speeds were reduced from 100 kilometres per hour to only 72 kph. Added track inspections were ordered to identify 'heat kinks' from expanding metal, Metro's website said.

'With these changes, passengers should prepare for delays and crowded conditions on all rail lines,' said Steven Feil, Metro's chief operating officer for Metrorail.

On the positive side, two months into hurricane season, the Atlantic region has been spared the frequent heavy storms of last season.

But the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, warned that tropical storm Chris - only the third of the season - was producing heavy rainfall over the Virgin Islands. A hurricane watch - meaning hurricane conditions could develop within the next 36 hours - was issued for the Turks and Caicos islands, southeastern Bahamas and several other islands in the region.

Winds were 95 kph.