The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled a website to help Americans protect themselves from extreme heat, as scorching temperatures...
The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled a website to help Americans protect themselves from extreme heat, as scorching temperatures continued to grip parts of the country.
The website, heat.govincludes interactive maps, forecasts, tips for staying cool, and other data designed to help federal, state, and local authorities prepare for and respond to heat waves.
“Extreme heat is a silent killer, but it affects more Americans than any other weather emergency — especially our country’s most vulnerable,” Gina McCarthy, President Biden’s national climate adviser, said in a statement.
The announcement comes after negotiations over Mr Biden’s climate legislation collapsed in Congress, even as the consequences of rising global temperatures become even clearer. Over the past week, more than 100 million Americans roasted under heat advisories or warnings, although on Tuesday that number fell to about 38 million.
Last week, Mr. Biden announced that it would allocate $2.3 billion an existing Federal Emergency Management Agency program to help communities weather the intense heat, storms, fires and floods made more intense by global warming.
Burning fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil emits greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. This is causing global temperatures to rise, leading to more frequent and severe extreme heat waves in the United States and around the world.
According to the administration, the extreme heat was the leading cause of weather-related death in the United States over the past 30 years – more than hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or extreme cold. It is responsible for killing more than 700 people and hospitalizing more than 6,000 people a year, the government said.
“The trend is worrying,” Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo said Tuesday. In addition to endangering public health, extreme heat is also “incredibly expensive”, said Raimondo, who estimated that the United States loses $100 billion every year because people who work outdoors don’t cannot work in extremely hot conditions.
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