Near-record heat in the D.C. area Monday created critical health problems for residents, buckled the track on a local railway, and left area residents and visitors desperately seeking cool comfort.
“I’m going to get a cold beer, jump on a Metro, get some large, two-liter sodas, get the AC on, and DVD myself to death after this,” said Jimmie Routt of the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District. “I can’t remember the last time it’s been this hot this early.”
Kimberly Gibbs, a spokeswoman for Innova Fairfax, said that since the weekend, the hospital has admitted more than two dozen people with heat-related illnesses. Most of the patients were suffering from heat exhaustion, a potentially fatal condition in which an individual’s body temperature rises so swiftly that the person becomes dizzy and lethargic.
“We’re attributing that to there not being a gradual rise in the heat,” she said.
Washington Hospital Center officials said Monday that one patient came in with heat exhaustion, and D.C. fire officials responded to several heat illness-related calls.
The high temperatures buckled tracks on the MARC Camden line in Maryland, shutting down trains between the Dorsey and St. Denis stops for 30 minutes Monday afternoon, officials said.
“A sun kink in the rails caused by the heat has developed,” a MARC news release said.
The sun threatened to kink the brains of some visitors.
Heather Cordell, who was furiously fanning her 4-year-old daughter, Hailey, said, “I’m from Seattle, and it is 50 degrees there. I want to be there.”
But Diana Deluca, of Salt Lake City, took the blast furnace temperatures in stride, despite having left home in a sweat shirt for a day touring the mall.
“It is hot out here, but it is a beautiful city,” she said. “I’m glad to be here.”
The high Monday was 97 degrees in Washington, with a heat index of 103 late Monday afternoon, but according to meteorologist Andrew Ulrich of AccuWeather.com, the highest temperatures may not have arrived yet.
A heat advisory has been issued through 8 p.m. Wednesday, when a cold front is expected to break the scorching weather.
The high today in D.C. is expected to be 96, with a heat index of 105, according to Ulrich. The cooler weather expected in the evening may not offer complete relief, as meteorologists anticipate thunderstorms as well.
Both Dominion Virginia Power and Baltimore Gas and Electric issued electric power advisories Monday resulting from the heat. Pepco reported power outages throughout the day in the D.C. area, according to spokesman Robert Dobkin.
“More than likely, the heat was a factor,” he said.
Examiner photographer Andrew Harnik contributed to this report.
