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Transcript/ScriptPhoenix Heat TV
HEADLINE: US City of Phoenix Copes With Rising Temperatures, Deadly Heat
TEASER: The state of Arizona's largest city, other urban centers, focus on heat response as they enter a searing summer
PUBLISHED AT: (DATE & TIME)
BYLINE: Mike O’Sullivan
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Phoenix, Arizona
VIDEOGRAPHER: Lucas Mullikin, Mike O’Sullivan
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath , MPage
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, AFP, AP
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:37 pm
VID APPROVED BY: Holly Franko
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO))
[[Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the hottest urban centers in the United States. More than 300 people in and around the city died of heat-related causes in each of the past two years. As Mike O'Sullivan reports, Phoenix has joined a growing number of cities that are searching for ways to cope with a changing climate.]]
((NARRATOR))
Outreach workers gather twice a day to hand out water and cooling supplies to residents of the U.S. city of Phoenix, Arizona, where daytime temperatures reach 43 degrees Celsius, or 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
[[FOR RADIO: Phoenix resident Emilio Rodriquez.”]]
((Emilio Rodriguez, Phoenix Resident))
“113 [45 Celsius], 114 [45.5 Celsius], 116 [46.6 Celsius] every day, every day. It’s very, very hot. Caliente! (Spanish for “hot”)”
((NARRATOR))
The director of the office of heat response and mitigation, which the city created last year, is an environmental scientist and climate expert.
[[FOR RADIO: “… David Hondula.”]]
((David Hondula, Phoenix Office of Heat Response and Mitigation))
“We’ve certainly seen our nights warming much faster than the days, a lengthening of our summer season. We’ve been very fortunate not to push the all-time high temperature record that was set in 1990.”
((NARRATOR))
That year it reached a scorching 50 degrees Celsius.
For more than 5,000 unsheltered homeless people, intense heat can be deadly.
Some shelter in cars. Others pitch tents in parks or on sidewalks, where they’re subject to cleanups three times a week that force them from their makeshift shelters.
City workers offer help to find housing.
[[FOR RADIO: “Mia Sanford is a social service caseworker.”]
((Mia Stanford, Social Service Caseworker))
“They can either call, email me, text me, just so I can get them off the street.”
((NARRATOR))
But rents are rising as fast as the temperature, and there’s not enough affordable housing.
Cooling and hydration centers have been set up in libraries and businesses,
and at the downtown YMCA,
where people can cool off and get a free bottle of water, escaping briefly from the heat.
Some roads, where the asphalt was burning hot,
now have a protective coating that reflects away the heat.
And thousands of trees have been planted — not nearly enough, however, to shade many neighborhoods.
The director of the Phoenix heat response office is promoting these cooling technologies and techniques and targeting vulnerable low-income populations.
[[FOR RADIO: “David Hondula.”]]
((David Hondula, Phoenix Office of Heat Response and Mitigation))
“But I also need to be the biggest cheerleader for investments in affordable housing and investments in new shelters because those are the investments that are going to really help folks avoid heat-related illness in the long term.”
((NARRATOR))
Other cities with municipal heat officers include Miami; Athens, Greece; Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Los Angeles.
(NATS UP — WOMAN SPEAKS OFF CAMERA))
“How about a cooling towel? A cooling towel?”
((NARRATOR))
A worsening challenge for cities worldwide, helping residents get through the long hot summer.
Mike O’Sullivan,
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Phoenix, Arizona
Embargo DateJuly 18, 2022 19:38 EDT
BylineMike O’Sullivan, VOA News, Phoenix, Arizona
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
