Last year's deadly heat wave in metro Phoenix didn't discriminate
The victims of last summer's staggering 31-day streak of daily temperatures reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit and over were old and young, male and female, homeless and well-to-do, Black, white, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American
By Anita Snow
Published - May 28, 2024, 12:22 AM ET
Last Updated - May 28, 2024, 12:22 AM EDT
PHOENIX (AP) — Priscilla Orr, 75, was living in her old white Kia in a supermarket parking lot last summer after telling her family she lost her money and home to a romance scam.
But the car broke down, and the air conditioner stopped working, leaving her vulnerable to the dangerous desert heat. Orr collapsed last July as she walked on the lot’s scalding asphalt, which registered 149 degrees Fahrenheit (65 C) as the air temperature topped the triple digits.
She was dead by the time paramedics arrived.
Orr was among over 400 people who died last year in metro Phoenix from heat-associated causes during a 31-day streak of sizzling days of 110 F (43.3 C) or higher that stretched from the last day of June through all of July.
