Heat Wave Keeps Its Grip on New York, Even After Nightfall

“You get the fresh wind there, blowing through the streets,” said Roeleb Molemaker, 55, a visitor from Holland who was heading to lower Manhattan with his family. “We can walk slow.”

Across the city, restaurateurs said they were mainly serving tourists.

“These tourists just want to come and eat, drink and then be on their way to find a new place to cool down,” said Maria Gonzalez, 26, a waitress at Il Piccolo Bufalo restaurant on Mulberry Street. “So we’ll be open for them.”

Gonzalez said many were even willing to eat at sidewalk tables.

“A lot of people still ate outside yesterday in this heat,” she said, hoisting a patio umbrella Sunday.

New York, like much of the country, has been in the grip of a heat wave, pushing officials in the city to declare a state of emergency lasting through the weekend as they fear the worst consequences such weather can bring. Meteorologists have issued extreme heat advisories stretching from the East Coast through the panhandle of Texas and the Midwest.

The temperature in New York was expected to shoot back up to the edge of 100 degrees Sunday, renewing worries about overburdening the city’s power system and the most vulnerable residents falling victim to the heat.

In Queens, fire marshals were investigating whether a faulty air conditioner sparked a fire that killed a 51-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter, the Fire Department said. Two teenagers, who neighbors said were the woman’s sons, were taken to the hospital in critical condition.

There were limited power failures in the city Saturday. Consolidated Edison reported that more than 3,300 customers were without electricity, including about 1,400 in eastern Queens. Thousands of others across the country also lost power.

By Sunday, the Public Service Electric and Gas company was asking its customers to limit power usage in Queens.

Forecasters said that oppressive heat would continue across the Atlantic Coast, from South Carolina to Maine, with highs reaching into the upper 90s, and humidity that would make it feel well over 100 degrees.

Halfway up that Northeast corridor, the heat delayed a commuter Greyhound bus traveling Sunday morning to New York from Boston. Matt Joyal, a passenger, said that customers were stuck waiting on the side of the highway for a replacement bus, which he said they were told would take two to three hours to arrive.

“Get this fixed so we can get on with our lives,” he wrote on Twitter.

Showers and thunderstorms, and with them cooler temperatures, were expected toward the Midwest. In New York, rain — and relief from the heat — was expected Monday.

A handful of New Yorkers did emerge Sunday morning to take advantage of the relatively cooler morning temperatures. In Williamsburg’s McCarren Park, the R Bar Softball Team gathered at 10 a.m. for a slow-pitch game.

“The league is so competitive,” said Ashley Mundy, 33, who trekked from Astoria by subway to play. “We have to get our record up for the playoffs.”

Still, Mundy said, they were considering playing fewer innings if the heat was prohibitive.

Anfernee Berrios, a 23-year-old rapper and songwriter from the Lower East Side, also pushed through the heat for a workout. Dripping with sweat Sunday afternoon, he jumped rope and dipped between workout bars in lower Manhattan’s Cherry Clinton Park.

“In this heat, and when trains get messed up, people get agitated easily,” Berrios said. “I’m trying to exercise and get my sweat on. It helps me keep a clear head, even in the heat.”

By the third day with temperatures in the 90s, even law enforcement agencies were losing patience. The New York City Police Department wrote on Twitter that “Sunday has been canceled,” and in Braintree, Massachusetts, the police requested that anyone thinking of committing a crime wait until Monday, when it had cooled down.

“We are asking anyone thinking of doing criminal activity to hold off until Monday. It is straight up hot as soccer balls out there,” the Braintree Police Department said in a now-viral Facebook post.

As part of the city’s response to extreme temperatures, it opened hundreds of cooling centers this weekend, including one at the Jacob A. Riis Settlement House, a community center serving Queensbridge Houses residents in Long Island City. It did not draw a huge crowd, but the people who took advantage of it, like the group assembled for a tenants association meeting, were grateful.

“Doesn’t it feel delicious?” said April Simpson, the president of Queensbridge Tenants Association.

Bodegas struggled to keep ice around, and refrigerators hardly kept bulk stocks of water bottles cool.

“We stocked up on ice again last night, and after two hours today, we ran out,” said Kenny Cheng, 40, who runs a corner shop called James Market in Chinatown. “People bought it all up.”

“We have plenty of water,” Cheng said, pointing to stacks of cases, “but it’s all warm. Our refrigerators won’t even keep them cool.”

Many without air conditioning poured into the streets Saturday. They queued up in long lines for community swimming pools, played in the water shooting from fire hydrants and sought shade wherever they could find it.

Paris Campbell, 50, sat on a stoop on 125th Street in Harlem, smoking a cigarette and listening to soul music. Campbell works as a janitor in the building, which does not have air conditioning. “All I can do to deal with the heat is come out here and take a break,” he said.

Dream Harris was among those trying to take advantage of the situation.

“Ice-cold water! One dollar!” Dream, 7, shouted Saturday afternoon from the corner of 152nd street and Morningside Avenue in Harlem.

“I don’t mind the heat,” her mother, Monica Harris, said. “New Yorkers always complain about it being too cold. Well, now they got a tropical climate, they should just enjoy it. Besides, it gives me an opportunity to teach my daughter about entrepreneurship.”

In less than an hour, Dream had made nearly $30. She unzipped the pink fanny-pack around her waist and pointed to a wad of damp singles shoved inside. She planned to keep working until she was out of water. At that point, the plan was to dash through the sprinklers in St. Nicholas Park, pick up some more bottles and get back to work.

“Go on, Baby, you’re letting all your customers get away!” Harris said, nudging her daughter to chase after someone who walked by without buying a bottle of water.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.