Chicago’s Deadly 1995 Heat Wave: An Oral History

Chicago Magazine reports:

For three horribly sweltering days in the summer of 1995, Chicago endured the deadliest stretch of heat ever recorded in the United States. The death toll ultimately numbered an estimated 739. Most victims were elderly and infirm and lived in the city’s poorest neighborhoods: Englewood, Fuller Park, and Roseland, to name a few. For reasons ranging from illness and immobility to poverty and fear, none were prepared for a weather event of such magnitude. The same was true for City Hall, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, and others whose belated attempts to mitigate this disaster proved largely ineffectual.

Weather must have gotten cooler in Chicago. Just a reminder.