‘Places like this could become uninhabitable’: The California city facing record-breaking heat
The long-range weather forecast from meteorologist Mike Everett is bleak: “Places like this could become uninhabitable.”
He has spent the last week guiding viewers of NBC News in Palm Springs, California, through its latest record-breaking heatwave.
The desert city is used to the heat but things are extreme. It has recorded its hottest June ever, multiple days in the mid-to-high 40s Celsius and equalled its record high of 50C (122F).
Meteorologist Mike Everett has bad news for those who prefer a cooler climate
And what is traditionally the hottest part of the year is still to come.
Within decades, Mike says, the increasing frequency and intensity of these heatwaves could turn this resort playground into a ghost town in summer.
“It is climate change, pure and simple,” he said.
“People will just move, they’ll migrate very similar to like we did at the beginning of mankind. They’re going to get away from the equator and start inhabiting the north.
At least the people of Palm Springs are used to dealing with the heat. Tens of millions across America’s west have faced weeks of record-breaking temperatures, many of them places not accustomed to extreme temperatures.
Palm Springs recorded its hottest June – and the summer is not over yet
In many places there hasn’t even been any respite from the heat at night: Palm Springs has seen record minimum temperatures in the 30s Celsius.
Even the evening provides little respite and the hottest part of the year is yet to come
Patrick and Ryan Nash have just moved here from the cooler California coast.
“The (heat)waves that we’ve had recently are much earlier in the year. Typically it won’t get this hot until around August or maybe September in previous years,” said Ryan.
“The heatwaves are usually three or four days long but now we’re getting these high-pressure systems that last for a week. We’re like day three of nine so it’s going to be this intense for a while.”
Many desert cities are now focussing on how to adapt to hotter temperatures, planning new areas of shade in landscape design and even considering encouraging people to work at night instead of the day.
Carlos Moreno has shifted his hours and altered his diet to cope with the heat
Construction worker Carlos Moreno has shifted his hours to starting earlier in the day and even altered his diet to cope with the heat.
But, for many like him, there is little else they can do: “If we can’t work in this heat we can’t just stay at home.”
A woman is suing Disney over claims a water slide at one of its theme parks left her with serious injuries.
In a lawsuit filed in Orange County, Florida, last week, the woman claims the Humunga Kowabunga slide at Walt Disney World gave her “severe vaginal lacerations”.
Warning: The article below contains details some people may find distressing
After going on the ride at Typhoon Lagoon as part of her 30th birthday celebrations in 2019, she was taken by ambulance to a local hospital before being moved to another that specialised in gynaecological injuries, court documents say.
There medics found she had a “full thickness laceration” of the vagina, which “caused the plaintiff’s bowel to protrude through her abdominal wall and damage her internal organs”.
She is seeking $50,000 (£41,400) in damages from Disney, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reports. The lawsuit said the Humunga Kowabunga slide puts riders at risk of a “painful wedgie”.
According to court documents, she went on the ride wearing a one-piece swimming costume with her mother and daughter after being instructed to cross her legs.
“The slide caused [her] clothing to be painfully forced between her legs and for water to be violently forced inside her,” the documents read.
“She experienced immediate and severe pain internally and, as she stood up, blood began rushing from between her legs.”
Another attraction at Typhoon Lagoon
Read more from Sky News:
Woman’s remains found in alligator’s mouth identified
Escaped black bear forces Disney World to close
It adds that “risk of injury as a consequence of water being forced inside a woman’s body” is “far greater than it is for a man”.
Disney has not responded to NBC News’s requests for comment.
Humunga Kowabunga is Typhoon Lagoon’s fastest and steepest waterslide. It sends people down a five-storey descent at speeds of up to 40mph, according to Disney’s website.
The theme park was built in 1989.
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