As near 100 degree temperatures continue to bash the Portland area, hundreds have flocked to the air conditioned spaces provided by Multnomah County since the deadly heat wave began last week and will continue to do so as officials extend cooling center hours into Tuesday.
The county will keep three cooling locations open until 10 p.m. Monday and will reopen them at noon Tuesday. Officials said they will not open overnight cooling centers due to declining temperatures in the evening.
Cooling locations include:
- Cook Plaza, 19421 S.E. Stark St., Gresham
- Portland Covenant Church, 4046 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland
- Congregation Beth Israel, 1972 N.W. Flanders St., Portland
Multnomah County Library branches have also extended their hours, which can be viewed on the library’s website. Portland’s Central Library at 801 S.W. 10th Avenue will be open until 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
Neighboring counties have launched similar efforts to combat the heat. Washington County cooling centers will remain open at the Beaverton City Library and the Hillsboro Shute Park Library until 9 p.m. Monday. Overnight shelters at the Beaverton Community Center and the Washington Street Conference Center in Hillsboro are also available. A full list of cooling locations can be found on Washington County’s cooling center map.
Clackamas County opened an overnight shelter at Father’s Heart Street Ministry in Oregon City and also provides a list of places to cool off during the day on its website.
Multnomah County officials suspect that at least four people have died from heat-related illness in the area since Friday, three of them older than 60. County Health Officer Richard Bruno said the deaths were likely avoidable.
“These are probably preventable deaths,” Bruno said in a press conference Monday. “We assume they probably wouldn’t have (died) if they had better cooling options.”
County health officials have partnered with homelessness services nonprofit Central City Concern and others to have medical vans on site at the cooling centers in an attempt to prevent more heat-related deaths, Bruno said.
Nearly 160 people visited cooling centers Sunday, up from 98 the day before, according to the county. With temperatures expected to peak as high as 101 Monday and reach triple digits again Tuesday, officials encouraged people to take advantage of the pop-up cooling spaces, even if just for a few hours.
“Five consecutive days of high temperatures combined with the potential for triple digit temperatures today and tomorrow mean the cumulative impacts of this heat event are very serious,” county officials said in a statement.
In August of last year, when a four-day stretch of 100-degree days descended on the Portland area, nearly 1,000 people visited county cooling sites, officials said. The number of people visiting rose from 120 at the beginning of the heat wave on Aug. 13 to 281 on Aug. 16 when the heat emergency ended.
The county opens cooling centers on the first 90-degree day of the summer, when the weather service issues heat advisories or the weather service heat risk tool shows certain areas of the county will be disproportionately impacted.
Officials said they have worked to expand outreach to property managers and people in apartment buildings who they’ve identified as more vulnerable to the heat. County staff have called nearly 900 property managers since July 3 with instructions on when to do welfare checks and asked them to post safety information for residents, according to a press release.
TriMet is offering free rides to anyone who can’t get to a cooling location. Those who need help arranging transportation can call 211.
The county is still looking for volunteers to staff the cooling centers. Those interested can sign up on the county’s website.
— Austin De Dios covers Multnomah County politics, programs and more. Reach him at 503-319-9744, adedios@oregonian.com or @AustinDeDios.
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