Heat Wave 2011: Temps Take Biggest Toll On Poor

HORIZON CITY, Texas — With much of the nation in the grip of a broiling heat wave, few people are hit as hard as the poor. And few places are poorer than the ramshackle communities along the Texas-Mexico border.

In Horizon City in West Texas, the cinderblocks that make up some homes do little to shield people from the triple-digit heat that has been scorching the region. Some houses are without electricity or running water.

Over the last decade, the heat has killed dozens of people living in poverty on the edge of the desert. This year, a task force hopes to distribute fans to the state's 2,500 border villages known as "colonias."

But with triple digit temperatures sometimes lingering for weeks, a fan is often not enough to keep cool.

Comments

[Marisa Stein]

04:53 PM on 07/19/2011

if they don't have electric power what good is a fan?

[wutzurbeef]

05:04 PM on 07/19/2011

They need to do as we do in the Coachella Valley.
We have designated 'COOLING CENTERS' where people can go and spend the day to cool off, free of charge. Malls, Public Buildings, Senior Centers, or setting one up in a School Gymnasium. The Cities or Counties in that area should have a plan and multiple places for these people to go.

[Charla Parton]

11:27 AM on 07/19/2011

The Pentagon is also one of the biggest wasters of money, too. If you think that Medicare and other entitlement programs are all that wastes money in government, you need a reality check fast. That isn't a dig at our men and women in uniform, but I think they would even tell you that the brass knows how to make things more complicated- and wasteful- than it has to be. THAT is an arm of government that needs some reduction in redundancy!

[HalowFan]

12:45 AM on 07/19/2011

I don't know how it is in other states, but in Virginia, low-income families can apply for cooling assistance. Please check on your neighbors, especially elderly neighbors.

[janehenry]

11:37 PM on 07/18/2011

Wow....two comments....guess the poor don't count.....but we already knew that.....

[mass maritimer]

10:48 PM on 07/18/2011

We could have the greatest society ever imagined if we invested half of our defense budget in education.....

[Klarsonent]

12:04 AM on 07/19/2011

You're right. Check this out: The Military is Where The Majority of Your Income Tax Money Goes and Is Why Our Deficit is So Great . . .

http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechartFY2009.pdf

[rndfetz]

11:13 AM on 07/19/2011

Our military are the reason you can post what you want here. If they are ever needed to defend you, go to someone else for help if you can't support them.

[cadawa]

07:46 PM on 07/18/2011

Everything takes a bigger toll on the poor; a bad economy, no jobs, crooked mortgage companies, broken health care systems, environmental degradation etc. That's why the rich are so crazy to stay to stay rich that they fronted the money to buy Congress and Supreme Court and a percentage of the White House.

[MeinNH]

03:53 PM on 07/22/2011

Exactly right....that is why I am a fan.