ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 16, 1995                   TAG: 9507170098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press NOTE: Lede
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


HEAT TOLL RISES TO 92

Smothering heat and violent storms kept a stranglehold on the eastern half of the country Saturday as the weather's death toll rose to at least 92.

In Chicago, at least 54 people whose bodies were brought to the Cook County medical examiner's office Saturday had died of heat-related causes. Widespread power outages overnight stilled fans and air conditioners in the 90-degree weather.

``We're calling this a weather-related disaster,'' said Mike Boehmer, an assistant administrator for the medical examiner. ``This is something we've never seen before.''

While a breath of slightly cooler air floated across the upper Midwest and into the Northeast, it touched off severe thunderstorms from the Plains through New England. Falling trees killed five people in New York state and lightning may have killed a Massachusetts woman.

A New York woman was killed when a white pine snapped in the wind and toppled onto her family's fold-out camper.

``It just folded the camper right up,'' said 17-year-old Lisa Cutler, who heard sirens and ran out to see what was going on.

The heat was directly involved in five deaths in Milwaukee and may have contributed to 10 more, said Milwaukee County medical examiner Jeffrey Jentzen. Other deaths over the past week included 11 in Missouri; seven in Illinois, including a 500-pound man found dead Friday in his sealed house with no air conditioning; two each in Kentucky and Iowa; and one each in Texas, Nebraska and Indiana.

In Philadelphia, where Saturday was the hottest day in 29 years with a high of 103, officials blamed two deaths on the heat, including that of one man found in his car.

``It's yucky outside,'' said 8-year-old Shannon Perry, pulling at her halter top unhappily on a Philadelphia street corner. ``My clothes are all sticky and it's just yucky.''

In Chicago, officials said most of the victims had suffered from heart problems, and heat stress had contributed to the deaths.

``We're not accustomed to handling this type of disaster,'' Boehmer said. ``With temperatures reaching 99 degrees today, that's not far off from yesterday's weather, and I would suspect that this could continue.''

``Oh, it's hot, you can't sleep,'' said 94-year-old Inez Anderson, who lives in a Chicago senior citizens' complex where few apartments have air conditioning and a man in his 70s died of heat stroke in an upstairs hallway.

The Washington Monument was shut down for a third day because the interior temperature rose into the 90s.

But the 94-degree temperature outside wasn't enough to keep President Clinton from venturing out in shorts, baseball cap and T-shirt for a late morning jog through downtown and along the Potomac River. He headed for the golf course later in the day.

A midday thunderstorm dropped the temperature at Milwaukee from 89 to 78, but the humidity stayed above 60 percent. The relief was more distinct in western Nebraska, with Saturday's readings in the 70s.

Ahead of the easing temperatures, records fell: it hit 105 in Danbury, Conn.; 101 in Norfolk; 100 in Atlanta; and 102 in New York City's Central Park, where trees and grass offer some relief from the blistering, heat-reflecting urban canyons of concrete, brick and asphalt.

``We're playing Christmas songs, like `Winter Wonderland,' to help beat the heat,'' said trumpeter David Gordon of the Bruce Edwards Quartet, playing jazz in the midday sun in New York City's midtown Duffy Square.

``It's sonic air conditioning,'' said guitarist Mark Hagan.

Keywords:
FATALITY



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