The National Weather Service placed Connecticut under an “excessive heat watch” this weekend. Just after noon on Saturday in Middletown, the temperature climbed to 100 degrees, according to Weather.com. It felt like 113 degrees as stifling humidity enveloped the air.
Some residents in that town beat the heat by swimming in a pool at Veterans Memorial Park.
“When you stand in the pool, it’s nice and cool, but when you get out, you feel the sun rays,” said 11-year-old Ava Ternullo. “You can get a sunburn if you don’t have sunscreen on.”
Going to the pool on Saturday was everything for Anna Terry and two her two daughters, 7-year-old Zoe Mullins and Aven Mullins, 5 – an alternative to keeping two young kids inside at home in the air conditioning.
“They’d be bored to death if we were home all day, so giving them this activity and letting them socialize is always so important,” Terry said. “Keeping them closed up at home is not ideal because it’s just me to entertain them so this -- they can entertain themselves.”
The Highlands Crescent bus stop is located in a condo complex near Interstate 91 in Middletown. There, volunteer firefighters attached a pipe to a fire hydrant valve to provide the people that live there with a powerful water source. Lt. James Figueroa was doing his best to not overheat and stay hydrated and he hoped city residents would do the same.
“Those are the type of the calls that are going to be coming in a lot today is dehydration, people that are sick, heat exhaustion – that’s why we’re here to open up the hydrant,” Figueroa said. “Small places like this don’t have pools where all of the other condos do.”
Governor Ned Lamont urged the people of Connecticut to find local cooling centers if they needed it by calling 2-1-1.
