North Texans Coping With 100-Degree Heat
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It hit 106 degrees in North Texas on Tuesday. This is the earliest in the summer that we have been this hot in more than 30 years.
Oncor was busy throughout the day. But in one north Oak Cliff neighborhood, an overloaded transformer blew and caught fire. "All of a sudden, I heard a loud sound," Virginia Nearpass said. She looked out of a back window. "I saw smoke. And, all of a sudden, I saw a lot of flame. I mean big flame."
It happened around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the time when everyone was home. Two and a half hours later, still no electricity. Oncor had told the 18 homeowners who lost power that they would have it back by 8:00 p.m. "Fortunately, I think we were all cooled off in our homes before this. So, you just keep the doors closed and not move around a lot," Nearpass said.
Three young men in the neighborhood knew what to do to stay cool. They sat in their van with the air conditioning running. "Kind of just sit in the van watching movies until it hopefully comes back on soon. That's our plan so far," Jose Reyes said.
In another part of Dallas, Nancy Murphy decided that this was a good day for a little exercise outside. She brought her 6-year-old daughter to one of the parks at White Rock Lake and started doing burpees. She had no idea that the temperature had topped out at 106 degrees. She only remembers all of the 100-degree days we had last year. "This year, I decided the heat is not going to keep me inside," Murphy said.
It's always worse for those who have to work in it. "I feel real hot," Paolo Cortez said. He had already put in nearly eight hours on the job, trimming trees. He was hot and sweaty, and felt a little sick. "Like, kind of passed out, faint." He has been working as a tree trimmer for 10 years, and said that he still is not used to the heat. Cortez knew what to do, though. He said that he had already had at least two gallons of water during the day.
North Texas hospitals have only seen one or two heat-related emergencies here and there. You just do not want that "one" to be you.
At 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night, power had still not been restored to the 18 households in north Oak Cliff. Some of them were starting to get irritible, and Wednesday will be another day with temperatures over 100 degrees.
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