Charleston warns residents to stay safe of extreme heat with Lowcountry Heat Action Plan Toolkit
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — Summertime temperatures are approaching, and as we get ready for a hot weekend here in the Lowcountry, the City of Charleston has put together a Heat Action Plan Toolkit.
The Lowcountry Heat Action Plan Toolkit is meant to protect residents from health risks in the event of extreme heat events, developed by the Citadel’s near center for climate studies. The tool kit helps residents prepare for the impacts of extreme heath, with a unique focus on the Lowcountry’s past, current, and future climate data.
“People are really seeing more impacts to extreme heat so bringing this education and the world, so people elevate the awareness of the issues, so people really take it seriously as seriously as we do with flooding,” said Kaylan Koszela, the Director of Resilience for the City of Charleston.
According to officials, heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths, because Charleston has a different climate than other hot areas. This first-of-its-kind tool kit is developed specifically to the Lowcountry, with special resources to the Charleston area.
“Our GIS team helped develop this interactive map that residents can pull up and find community centers, libraries community polls and identify where folks can come cool off if they need to. It helps inform decisions for the city of where maybe we need the city to plant trees or working with residential partners to plant trees, so it’s been very helpful,” said Koszela.
MUSC is one of the groups aiding in the research between the heat index and health risks: an important issue in Charleston because of the humidity. They found an association between heat index and mortality rate in their research.
“We did find when the heat index was about 99 or 100 the mortality rate was a little higher. Then after 100 it went back down so I suspect that means when it’s really hot that means people don’t go out and do stuff but when its 99 or 100 people think oh well, we deal with that all the time,” said Dulaney Wilson, an MUSC Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences
The tool kit has data and tools to evaluate heat dangers and important information about the signs of heat illness and steps you can take to protect yourself and others.
“It’s the first of its kind here in our region for a one stop shop tool kit for people to gain knowledge and resources when it comes to extreme heat and why people should be paying attention on a day like today when it’s really hot,” said Koszela.
There will be a public webinar for anyone who wants to learn more about beating the heat on May 20th that you can register for here.
