Few realize that heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States, claiming more lives each year than floods, lightening, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined. It is no coincidence that a majority of those who lose their lives in the heat are over the age of 65.Over the coming decades, heat waves in the Coachella Valley will continue to take lives as they become more frequent and dangerous. One diabetic patient in the Coachella Valley was living in a mobile home park without air conditioning for a month at a time when temperatures reached above 115 degrees. Because of the exposure to heat and dehydration, he went into renal failure and died from complications of diabetes.
Stories like this one fill our local newspapers in the valley during the summer months, exposing the dangers of our desert heat.