(OPINION) What keeps emergency management officials up at night? Terrorist attacks. The Big One. A direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane. But when it comes to climate-related disasters, one fear often rises above the rest: a blackout during a heat wave.
According to new research published this spring, a two-day citywide blackout in Phoenix during a heat wave could lead to half the population — some 789,600 people — requiring emergency medical attention in a metropolitan area with just 3,000 available beds. As many as 12,800 people could die, the equivalent of more than nine Hurricane Katrinas.
Power outages can happen during a heat wave for a number of reasons. The most obvious is because of strain on the power grid, as everyone cranks up their air conditioning at the same time.
By one estimate, “two-thirds of North America is at risk of energy shortfalls this summer during periods of extreme demand.” Blackouts can be both city- and state-wide, like when 11 million people were without power following a deadly grid failure in Texas in 2021; or rolling, to prevent a more catastrophic failure; or localized, like when a wildfire takes down transmission lines.
Storms can also knock out power, cutting off access to life-saving air conditioning. Excessive heat killed 12 nursing home residents in Florida in the aftermath of a 2017 hurricane, the same year that hundreds died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria lead to a months-long blackout.
There’s another possibility that has been quietly discussed by emergency officials, too: a malicious cyberattack that takes down the grid during a time of extreme heat.
“What happens when a cyberattack disables access to electricity for weeks, coordinated with record-breaking heatwaves, which are significant public health concerns in themselves?” a 2021 piece in The American Journal of Medicinemused, only to conclude that “the impact on the health-care system” — including hospitals, which can run on generators but would be quickly overwhelmed — “would be catastrophic.”
No, you’re not psychic: You can’t predict when a power outage will leave you without your AC. But you are an informed person who’s aware that heat waves are becoming more common and intense and that extreme heat is the deadliest weather phenomenon in the United States. Virtually every American can benefit from having a plan in place for how to deal with extreme heat in the absence of AC, since nowhere is climate-proof.
At the most basic, the emergency agencies that informed this article — primarily American Red Cross, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Ready.gov, all of which can be consulted for further resources —
say you should have an emergency kit prepared and up to date in your home, and sign up for emergency alerts. (Also prepare a separate emergency kit for your pets if you have any.) This should include directions to your local cooling center in addition to a hospital.
Next, “Take an inventory of your essential electrical needs,” advises the American Red Cross. “Then consider how you would live without them when the power goes out.” That list might include backup batteries for phones, fans, CPAP machines, or any other medical devices. (READ MORE)
