When weather-related disasters hit, it’s often tornadoes and hurricanes that get the most press, with their obvious impacts on their communities in terms of physical damage and the displacement of residents. However, in terms of deaths caused, it’s actually heat waves that have had the greatest impact on Americans, with federal agencies indicating roughly 700 people die each year from extreme heat events, and some studies estimating the true total being close to double that, according to USA Today.
As to why heat waves are so dangerous, many experts point to a combination of lack of awareness, with the immediate effects of extreme heat not being nearly as obvious. Instead, extreme heat can cause cellular dysfunction, which can result in the brain, heart, and other organs not behaving normally, and aggravating symptoms in people who may already have chronic diseases. Says Dr. Robert Shesser, professor and department chair of emergency medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science, to USA Today, “It’s an insidious danger. People aren’t aware that they’re becoming critically ill from heat-related illness because it kind of affects them over time.”
Says Marcia Ory, regents & distinguished professor at Texas A&M School of Public Health, to USA Today, “What’s important is to take heat seriously. Not 10 years from now, right now. We have to figure out how to make the environment safer and protective from all kinds of public health disasters – heat being the latest one.”
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