Under fire, City Council tells mayor’s office to craft extreme heat plan

Atlanta City Council is directing city departments to beef up efforts to protect residents from the growing threat of extreme heat after the city recently faced withering critiques from homeless services groups for its response to a recent heatwave.

City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday calling on Mayor Andre Dickens’ office and other departments to craft a heat safety plan that includes:

The measure was proposed by Council member Kelsea Bond last month after the city endured a brutal stretch of high heat and humidity around the Fourth of July. For more than a week starting in late June, “feels-like” temperatures in the city reached into the high 90s and low triple digits, with even overnight hours offering little relief.

That kind of sustained heat is uncomfortable for anyone, but it’s especially dangerous for people experiencing homelessness or residents without air conditioning. Without a chance to cool down, experts say the body’s built-in cooling systems can become overwhelmed, increasing the risk of heat-related illness.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

In the eyes of many groups who provide assistance to the city’s homeless residents, Atlanta’s response to the broiling temperatures was woefully inadequate.

Atlanta’s fire stations offered water to residents and the city had one cooling center open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Selena S. Butler Park in Old Fourth Ward. But even that facility shuttered July 3 because of staffing shortages and remained closed on the Fourth of July. City pools also shut down for the holiday.

To provide relief, grassroots groups told City Council’s Community Development and Human Services Committee last month they took matters into their own hands, fanning out across the city and surrounding counties to hand out water and ice.

Sarah Zimbardi, an advocacy coordinator with the homeless services nonprofit Central Outreach and Advocacy Center, told the committee last month that Atlanta must “do better and not just check the box on having a cooling center available.”

Asked to respond to resolution, Michael Smith, a spokesperson for Mayor Andre Dickens, said the administration began reviewing and updating its heat procedures months ago “to ensure we have a best-in-class response to extreme heat events that are increasing in frequency.”

“We look forward to sharing those findings with the council and the public in the near future,” Smith added.

Critics also say the city needs to update the metrics it uses to decide whether to open cooling centers.

The mayor or the city’s chief operating officer have the power to unilaterally order cooling centers to open. But absent a decision from city leadership, the facilities only open if a heat index of 95 degrees or higher is forecast for at least five hours on two or more straight days, or if the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory for a period longer than five hours.

Zimbardi told the City Council committee last month the current protocols are “just not good enough.” Experts agree that even lower temperatures can pose health threats to vulnerable populations, especially when combined with high humidity.

Heatwaves are already one of the country’s deadliest extreme weather events, leading to an estimated 1,200 deaths each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The threat from heat is expected to grow significantly as the climate warms. The most recent National Climate Assessment, released by the federal government in 2023, warned most of Georgia will likely see between 10 and 40 more days with temperatures of at least 95 degrees by midcentury.

A note of disclosure

This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. You can learn more and support our climate reporting by donating at AJC.com/donate/climate.