PORTLAND, Ore. — Beginning Thursday, temperatures in the Portland area will begin to rise into the mid-90s and by Friday are expected to hit triple digits and stay there for multiple days. Throughout the week, outreach workers and nonprofits working with the homeless have been warning people to make a plan to stay safe when the heat wave hits.
On Wednesday evening, Union Gospel Mission's Search and Rescue mobile outreach team headed to Southeast Portland, visiting their typical spots to distribute supplies and provide the community with vital information.
"We do that five days a week on a regular basis," said Courtney Dodds with Union Gospel Mission. "We visit the same spots every week, kind of build relationships and provide food, clothing, hygiene items, that sort of thing. On a week like this, where it's going to be really hot this weekend, we are extra cognizant of the struggles that people might have in the heat."
That means providing extra water, hydration tablets and cooling cloths, and doing welfare checks on the most vulnerable.
"Days where it's extremely cold for a long time, or heat waves when it's in the 90s or 100 for four or five days, it really can be dangerous to people's health," Dodds said. "Dehydration. Heat stroke. It can be life-threatening if people get dehydrated and can't find somewhere to cool off. So we definitely get concerned."
Union Gospel Mission plans to open its dining hall Thursday afternoon, but as of Wednesday night, Multnomah County had not made a decision on whether to open cooling shelters. That decision is expected Thursday morning.
Several we spoke with asked about cooling shelters, hoping to find a place to good to get relief from the sun and heat.
"I've been out here on the streets for about nine years," said Beau Brunkow. "My plans for the hot weather? I'm going to be going down to probably the river. I get heat strokes way easy so ... I didn't expect this hot weather to be coming like this."