Heat-Related Deaths Put at 200 in Chicago

The official heat-related death toll here reached 116 on Sunday, with an unofficial count passing 200, despite scant cooling. Cook County Medical Examiner Edmund R. Donoghue said that “based on the current information we have, we may go over 300” by the end of the week.

Eighty-eight weather-related deaths were recorded elsewhere in the Midwest and East, bringing the official national toll to 204.

Chicago’s human services crews, not reassured by the forecast of cooling thunderstorms and temperatures that hovered in the mid-90s--down from the triple-digit highs of the previous four days--traveled door to door in North Side neighborhoods where senior citizens and poor families live in a warren of old apartment buildings that have had no electricity or water for two days.

While many tenants sought refuge in the air-conditioned homes of friends or relatives, and a few made their way to city cooling centers, others slept in Grant Park near the Art Institute.

Those that remained at home wandered unlighted corridors in as little clothing as possible--in some cases, none. They stayed awake through the night, afraid they’d die undetected in their apartments, and found rest only after dawn, when they could sleep on mats on the fire escape.

They watched freezer contents melt and longed for a bath.

The sweltering heat bearing down on the Great Lakes region also overwhelmed medical examiners in Milwaukee, where 84 bodies were carted in for autopsies in a 36-hour span, a period that rarely sees more than a dozen. New York City reported 11 heat-related deaths in one day; Washington, where the Washington Monument was closed for a fourth straight day, reported three deaths, including that of a National Park Service ranger on bicycle patrol.

Hospital and police officials in Washington said the heat wave strained their ability to provide services throughout the city. Power outages plagued the metropolitan area.

David Bookstaver, a spokesman for New York City’s Emergency Medical Service, said a record 4,607 calls were received and 2,100 people were taken to hospitals. On an average day, the EMS handles 3,100 calls. “People were suffering. The heat had an enormous impact on people’s health.”

“Thank God it’s over,” said Robert Watson, a psychologist who was walking Shadow, his Norwegian elkhound. “Yesterday was the worst day I ever spent in New York City.” New York’s temperatures dropped back down to the 80s by Sunday.

Chicago has been by far the hardest hit. Officials blamed the high death toll on a combination of power outages and low water pressure, caused when fire hydrants were illegally turned on to provide cooling sprays.

These have been days that sent Julio Martinez, a retired truck driver, to his sweat-drenched knees in the bathroom of his cramped apartment, praying for strength to survive so he could help his older, frailer neighbors.

With both electricity and water knocked out at the Kenmore Apartments from Friday night to Saturday morning, Martinez and the building’s janitor each carried half a dozen faint and frightened tenants down the dark, stifling stairways of the eight-story building to the lobby, where relatives could take them somewhere safer. No power, no elevator.

Most of the time, the pair of good Samaritans could hardly communicate with those they labored for. The overwhelming majority of the 138 residents are Korean and Russian immigrants with little English at their command.

Martinez’s daily weightlifting regimen was paying off. Duke S. In, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound stroke victim who cannot walk without a cane, was a substitute for his usual two 100-pound dumbbells.

Martinez, who is 67, lifted In onto his back and carried him down seven flights to his waiting family. Then he climbed back up to his own apartment on the seventh floor and splashed water from the refrigerator over his short, wavy hair and mustachioed face to keep from keeling over.

About 50 of the tenants were able to leave, Martinez said.

But one woman in her 70s, So J. Lee, did not survive. Her body was found Friday night by a neighbor. Another man left by ambulance. Two more women, Martinez said, nearly fainted.

“I’ve never been so scared in my life,” said Martinez, the tenant association president. “I lost one and we almost lost two more.”

Thomasina Sims, who lives on the eighth floor, said she was aware that the city operates shelters during heat waves. “But who could get to the cooling center? I couldn’t wear clothes; it was so sticky. And if I got on the bus needing a bath like I did, I’d surely be the only one on board.”

Besides, the cooling centers were not immune to the utility problems. At one center, the water pressure dropped so low that the cooling system broke down, said Carmelo Vargas, the Chicago director of emergency services.

In the dim light of a votive candle by her bedside Friday night, Sims peered at her address book and her telephone’s push buttons, trying to cope with the heat by calling friends. A voice from the hallway inquired, “801?” She replied that she was inside, alive.

About 5 a.m., Sims and her dog made their way to the fire escape door. A neighbor was just outside on the landing. Fluent only in Korean, she gestured to Sims to sit on the mat she had spread. After this neighborly gesture, she managed two English words: “Excuse me.” Then she stretched out to sleep.

Sims looked around. Below, she could see others doing the same, finally able to relax.

Henry Locke, a spokesman from the city’s Department of Human Services, said his agency logged 35 complaint calls from the Kenmore Apartments.

Several came from Martinez. He says his pleas went unanswered during the worst of the emergency. A representative of the Chicago Housing Authority, which manages the building, called Saturday afternoon after electricity and water were restored.

The police returned his call on Sunday, he said.

“I don’t blame them, though,” Martinez said. He knew they too were overwhelmed.

Indeed, the county coroner struggled with a morbid backlog of corpses to be autopsied, borrowing a refrigerated truck to store those the agency couldn’t get to and recruiting from a local mortuary school to help out.

Christopher Morris, business manager for the medical examiner’s office, said that more than 65 bodies still await autopsy today at the morgue and that 215 others are being held at various funeral homes. Morris estimated that 65% of these will be certified as heat-related deaths.

The grim arrivals came from all parts of the city. And Morris said he expected the flow of bodies to continue throughout the week, as people discover deaths when they check on neighbors.

Mayor Richard M. Daley urged his constituents to look in on everyone around them.

The emergency services department put seven vehicles on the street, charging the workers with locating buildings with senior citizens who need help.

At the Kenmore Apartments, the trouble began Wednesday. Martinez began to cry as he watched the faces of his neighbors turn drawn and pale under a constant sheen of perspiration.

He spent $20 of his own money to buy ice and water, which he placed in the building’s auditorium. But the air conditioning there couldn’t keep up with the demand. Condensation covered the floor.

Martinez unlocked six vacant apartments and opened each unit’s doors and windows. “But, still there was no air,” he said.

By Friday, he’d found an old window air conditioner in the garbage and fixed it. He took it to the auditorium and plugged it in. “Boom! The lights went out,” he said.

By Sunday, he felt the worst was over. But he was far from comfortable, staying near a small fan that turned from side to side on his living room floor. He was shirtless and wore seersucker cutoffs.

“I just hope this doesn’t happen again. August is coming, and August is the hottest month.”

Times staff writers Stephen Braun in Chicago, Sam Fulwood III in Washington and John J. Goldman in New York contributed to this story.