In a slice of park alongside the Van Wyck Expressway in Jamaica, Queens, Christina Charlie and her 6-year-old daughter sat in the only shade available — a patch of shadow underneath a jungle gym. Ms. Charlie was holding a water gun, and every so often she would spray at her daughter’s forehead, then her own.
As a heat wave began to throttle New York City this week, with temperatures expected to reach about 100 degrees on Thursday, the discomfort was not felt evenly across the city. New Yorkers all over are suffering, but some must endure the extreme weather in neighborhoods where the heat not only feels more oppressive but is also more difficult to escape.
More than nearly any place in New York, the heat was most acutely felt in this part of Queens; Jamaica is one of the roughly three dozen neighborhoods that public health experts deem extremely vulnerable to heat. It is deficient in nearly all the amenities that provide relief from a heat wave, like leafy parks, tree-lined sidewalks and easy access to air-conditioned spaces. And it is poor, like many other heat-vulnerable communities.
As Ms. Charlie and her daughter sweated in their little patch of shade in the park, she said it was still preferable to being at home: The central air in her apartment was shut off on the hottest day of the summer so far. She hadn’t paid the bill.
“They need some trees or something in this park,” Ms. Charlie, 30, said, between spritzing them both with the squirt gun. “It is hot as hell out here.”
Since 2015, the city has rated neighborhoods according to its Heat Vulnerability Index, a metric developed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The index examines factors that drive heat death, including surface temperatures; lack of access to green space and home air-conditioning; and income. Jamaica scores the worst: a five out of five.
To combat the disparity — which contributes to the approximately 500 heat-related deaths in New York City each year — the city rolled out emergency measures this week, including hundreds of pop-up cooling centers, using the vulnerability rubric to direct its response. Heat-vulnerable neighborhoods in all five boroughs will see a larger share of cooling resources, according to the city.
In Jamaica on Thursday, the afternoon heat index — what the heat actually feels like — will pass 110 degrees. And unlike leafy, more affluent places like Riverdale, in the Bronx, where air-conditioners protrude from high-rises and trees shade nearly 70 percent of the area, there is little escape.
“We know that extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in New York City,” Jeremy Edwards, a spokesman for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “And we will continue using every tool available to help ensure all communities are prepared and we keep all New Yorkers safe.”
“Heat risk is not just about the temperature,” said Carolyn Olson, the assistant commissioner for environmental surveillance and policy with the health department “Even more important is the access to relief.”
As the temperature climbed toward triple digits this week, the only thing on Chris Rousseau’s mind was how to cool off his 2-year-old daughter. Mr. Rousseau, 35, a New York City Police Department officer, trudged along a treeless Archer Avenue on Wednesday, pushing his daughter’s tricycle. The only breeze was from a whirring fan attached to her handlebars and pointed toward her face.
Just 20 percent of Jamaica has tree cover, lower than the citywide average of about 24 percent. Earlier this year, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice released a plan that called for expanding the city’s canopy to 30 percent.
The sprinklers were broken at the park nearest to Officer Rousseau’s house, so he was making the trek to Gateway Park beside the expressway in search of a working spritz. “She’s the only one I’m worried about,” he said, gesturing to his perspiring child.
From cracking open hydrants to riding air-conditioned subway cars back and forth, New Yorkers searched for ways to cope. Waiting for an Uber at Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue, an intersection that steamed with the scent of exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke and past-ripe mangoes, Serge Ayite, 32, a restaurant manager, revealed the secret to his uncannily crisp shirt and cool demeanor. “I shower four times a day,” Mr. Ayite said.
Last June alone, a spate of record-breaking temperatures resulted in 19 deaths, according to the a Heat-Related Mortality Report, which warned of worse to come as the city prepares for a hotter future. Last year, the City Council passed legislation that requires landlords to install air-conditioning on demand, but it will only go into effect in 2030. Even so, there are many who say they cannot afford it.
“The No. 1 risk factor for heat-related death is not having an air-conditioner indoors,” said Ms. Olson. “Although most people think the danger is outdoors, the people who die from heatstroke are most likely to not have or use air-conditioners and be exposed to life-threatening heat in their homes.”
And while there is a federally financed Home Energy Assistance Program that provided poor New Yorkers with money for air-conditioners or repairs, it is no longer accepting new applicants for this season, and it does not cover bills during the summer. Utility companies do have energy assistance programs, but the application process can be cumbersome, and many do not know about it.
When Shatira Monique entered her 19th floor apartment in Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon, it was like opening a door to an oven. A wall of heat blasted her and her 4-year-old daughter, Journee. Ms. Monique, 31, who is not working, said she did not realize her central air bill was not included in her rent, and the utility had been shut off the day before. She gave Journee an ice pop.
On Thursday, they planned to escape the heat and drive to family in North Carolina. “We have to get out of here,” Ms. Monique said. “This is not acceptable.”
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