Marylanders Try To Stay Cool During Unrelenting Heat

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- For the second day in a row, we were under a heat advisory and it felt like triple digits outside.

Derek Valcourt has more.

In heat like this, you can sweat just standing in the shade.

"It feels like 110 right now and that's not even moving around," said construction worker Manuel Pereria.

Work crews like the one pouring concrete in Towson have no choice; they've got to be out in this weather to get the job done. They just can't move as fast.

"Once in a while, we take breaks in the shade. We shift with the guys, try to get a break in the shade and then we come back and keep going," Pereria said.

"Yesterday was impossible," said Linda Ringo.

Ringo armed herself with plenty of fluid to beat the heat. She's doing exactly what health officials recommend: staying hydrated. This is the time of year when cases of heat-related admissions to the ER soar. Doctors say the very young, the very old and those with chronic health problems are most at-risk and should pay attention to warning signs of overheating.

"So things like confusion, sweating, your heart rate becoming faster, breathing faster." said Dr. Bahareh Aslani, Sinai Hospital. "Anything that's out of the usual."

Staying inside with air conditioning is the safest bet. Local governments are opening cooling centers to give people without air conditioning somewhere to lower their body temperatures.

Public pools and ice cream shops were both popular places to chill out on days like this.

Like thousands of other Marylanders, Stephanie Henry made sure she took her lunch break in the shade.

"I know that it's really hot but this is excruciating. I cannot stand the heat," Henry said.