‘You just suffer’: Stifling heat continues for much of Oregon

Darlene McAuliffe was one of several people waiting outside Multnomah County’s lone cooling center, seeking relief from the intense heat. She took deep breaths as she sat down, all her personal items lying at her feet.

“It’s been really rough, and I get dizzy, and I want to pass out because I get dehydrated,” McAuliffe said.

Much of the upper Willamette Valley remained under a heat advisory Wednesday, with high temperatures expected to hover around triple digits.

The National Weather Service also issued a heat advisory for the western and central Columbia River Gorge, through 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Officials from Multnomah County have opened a cooling shelter at the Bud Clark Commons Resource Center in Northwest Portland. It will remain open until 9 p.m.

McAuliffe came to the shelter the previous day, when temperatures were similarly scorching, but said there was little relief once the center closed at 9 p.m. and she had to sleep outside.

“You just suffer,” she said. “There’s no way to get away from it. You try to find shade, but the heat’s so intense. You just try to relax and stay calm and hope for breeze.”

It appeared nearly every person waiting at the cooling center was experiencing homelessness. Jacob Lancey waited with others for the center to open, sweat dripping from his forehead. He has lived on the streets of Portland for more than 20 years and said the summers continue to get hotter. For those living outside, the danger of overheating is constant, he said.

“They’re out in the streets and they need a place to hydrate and stay cool,” he said. “I walked underneath the bridge on the southeast side, and there’s people laying on the concrete. I didn’t even know if they were conscious or not.”

Dr. Richard Bruno, health officer for Multnomah County, said the center saw around 140 people on Tuesday and they expected similar numbers Wednesday. He said it was clear many were on the verge of heat exhaustion.

“We did rounds around this two- or three-block area yesterday, just handing out waters to folks and snacks and seeing if they needed any kind of medical attention,” Bruno said.

Anyone looking for a cool place to escape the extreme heat should call 211 or visit 211info.org.

More resources for dealing with extreme heat

The weather service also said that thunderstorms were possible throughout much of Oregon Wednesday, which could lower temperatures.

“There is around a 15-25% chance of thunderstorms on Wednesday afternoon, which may increase cloud cover and thus cause temperatures to be slightly lower than forecast,” the NWS weather alert reads.

Those thunderstorms have also led to red flag warnings for Central and Southern Oregon, as lightning strikes could start new fires.

Meanwhile, wildfires already burning across the state and high levels of smog have led to smoky, hazy conditions across the region.

The weather service has issued an air quality alert in the Willamette Valley and parts of Central and Eastern Oregon until Wednesday evening.

Temperatures are expected to dip considerably over the next several days in western Oregon, with high temperatures in the Portland metro area reaching only the mid-70s during the weekend.