By: Johanna Wu
People from Houston to New Orleans, who are experiencing very humid temperatures because of a tornado in Texas, have opened cooling centers to counteract the hot temperatures.
Gov. Greg Abbott visited the town of Perryton in the Texas Panhandle after three people were killed due to the tornado, two women and an 11-year-old boy, and more than 1,000 houses experienced power outages per official reports. The Perryton Ochiltree Chamber of Commerce said that they would open a cooling center for the 8,000 residents to combat the hot temperature.
After the tornado, many helped each other recover from the disaster, actions including finding missing Texans who were swept away by the tornado. “At times of events like these, Texans come together,” Abbott told the reporters and “trigger all the resources the state can bring to bear … to accelerate the ability to rebuild.”
Greg Abbott said he was shocked to see how much of the town was destroyed by the tornado. Buildings were in ruins and there was debris on the ground. He praised what he called “non-stop heroic efforts by healthcare providers,” who, he said, treated 160 injured people at the local hospital that only has 25 beds.
The National Weather Service issued heat warnings along the Gulf Coast from Brownsville, Texas, to Houston after the tornado hit. It said the temperature ranges from nearly 115 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston to nearly 120 Fahrenheit at Brownsville and Corpus Christi in Texas. Rain, high winds, and possibly more tornados were forecasted by the weather service. Cooling shelters were set up with the help of many citizens in cities along the coast for people who had no electricity.
Since the humidity is very high, it makes the temperature feel even hotter. The air temperature in Dallas could reach 94 F, but with the high humidity, it will feel like 105 F.
“The reason we’re having such heat is there is a lot of moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico,” Prater said. “That’s working with the warmer temperatures to induce … that ‘feels like’ temperature.”
The city of New Orleans advised residents that if they were spending time outside to wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing, take frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned environments, and drink lots of water.
The tornado in Texas has affected many parts of the U.S. like the hot temperature that will reach enormous numbers in the next couple of days. Many hope that they and others can recover from this natural disaster.
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