Beachgoers seek relief from the heat along Lake Michigan in Chicago on Sunday.
CHICAGO - Skyrocketing temperatures surpassed the 100-degree mark here for the first time in six years, prompting Chicago officials to implement an emergency response plan honed after hundreds of people died in a heat wave a decade ago.
Sweat-drenched city workers fanned out across Chicago on Sunday, checking on elderly residents and shuttling people to cooling centers. By late afternoon, temperatures at Midway Airport had reached 104 degrees, just one degree lower than the highest temperature ever recorded in the city, according to the National Weather Service.
Â"If you looked at who died in 1995, it was not triathletes, it wasnÂ't people at ballparks, it wasnÂ't people at outdoor festivals; it was the elderly who were living alone,Â" said Dr. William Paul, acting commissioner of the cityÂ's Public Health Department.
Chicago's discomfort is part of a blazing heat wave that stretches across the upper Midwest and beyond. Sunday's high temperatures included 106 in Osage Beach, Mo., 102 degrees in St. Louis and 101 in Iowa City, Iowa. Omaha, Neb., peaked at 105 on Saturday.
At least three deaths this summer in Missouri have been blamed on the heat and authorities were look at the death of a woman found Sunday in a home without air conditioning.
Twenty-one people, mostly homeless, have died from heat in Arizona this summer.
Some 200 cities and towns in the West hit daily record highs last week, including Las Vegas, Nev., at 117, and Death Valley soared to 129, the weather service said.
Demand for electricity to run air conditioners has hit near-record peaks from Southern California to the region served by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Excessive heat warnings and advisories were in effect through Monday for states from Illinois to Louisiana and from Nebraska to the District of Columbia, the weather service said. In the Florida Panhandle, meteorologists said a high of 94 combined with high humidity could make the heat index 114 Monday afternoon.
"It's makes-you-wanna-cry hot," Angela Wood said as she walked with her husband and 15-month-old daughter Sunday in Fayetteville, N.C., where Sunday's high was 90 and Monday's was expected to hit 98.
Chicago officials on Sunday implemented an an automated calling system that began contacting 40,000 elderly residents at 9 a.m. to inform them about the heat.
Â"You canÂ't wait for an emergency to find these folks,Â" said Joyce Gallagher, commissioner of the cityÂ's Department on Aging. Â"On a day like today, letÂ's just say every single senior who doesnÂ't have air conditioning is at risk.Â"
Three deaths reported
Chicago Fire Department spokeswoman Rosa Escareno said three people appear to have died Sunday from heat-related injuries, but she added that it would be days before causes of death would be confirmed. The Cook County medical examinerÂ's office had not attributed any deaths to the weather.
SundayÂ's broiling conditions came on the 71st anniversary of the highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago. The mercury hit 105 degrees at University of Chicago on July 24, 1934, said Bob Somrek, a weather service meteorologist.
An excessive heat warning was to remain in effect until Monday for most of central and eastern Missouri, as well as western portions of Illinois.
The sweltering temperatures, however, did not stop tens of thousands of people from attending Lollapalooza, a two-day music festival held in Chicago this weekend.>
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