Extreme heat continues – advice to stay safe

The extremely hot weather is continuing on Tuesday, July 19th – but cooler weather is on the way.

The Met Office triggered a ‘Red Alert’ in the North West for heatwave conditions with temperatures expected to reach up to 34 degrees on Tuesday.

The Council is protecting key services from the extreme heat and reminding people to stay safe and follow relevant health advice.

United Utilities have issued warnings to people not to swim in reservoirs and open water. Even though the weather is hot, the water in our reservoirs rarely gets above 11°C, which is cold enough to shock the body and cause panic, and can make you not be able to swim.

Our Highways teams are ready to be deployed in case the extreme heat damages the road surfaces. There may be some disruption to planned day to day highways activities if this happens.

During a heatwave, when temperatures remain unusually high over more than a couple of days, you can get dehydrated and your body may overheat.

This can be especially dangerous for older and more vulnerable people – especially those over 75 and/or living on their own or in a care home, people suffering from mental ill health, those with dementia and those people who rely on carers.

Other at-risk groups of people include those taking certain types of medication and babies and young children – especially those under four years old.

It is important to never leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle in hot weather, especially babies, young children or animals.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is working with its partners to make sure the most vulnerable residents in the borough are kept safe.  You too can play your part by minimising the risks and taking a few sensible precautions:

Keep out of the heat; take cool showers or baths and splash yourself several times a day with cold water – particularly your face and the back of your neck – drink plenty of water; eat as you normally would but try more cold food, salads and  fruit which contain water.

Councillor Damian Talbot, Executive Member for Public Health, Prevention and Wellbeing, said:

This is exceptionally hot weather and this means there are risks to people. There are some things we can do in this heat to keep a bit cooler and safer though.

Drink plenty of cool (non-alcoholic) fluids to keep hydrated, avoid direct sunlight, particularly during the hottest parts of the day, try and stay in the shade, and use lots of sun cream.

If you can, please look out for people who are more vulnerable to the heat, especially older people, babies and young children and pets.

It’s also really important not to jump into cold waters such as reservoirs, as this could prove deadly. It can be very tempting to try and cool down this way but the water is still very cold and can make even very strong swimmers panic and get into trouble in there.  There have already been a number of tragic deaths around the region and country and we don’t want to see more.”

Advice and guidance has been put together to help protect people in case of a heatwave over the summer months:

The Met Office warnings and updates can be found here: UK weather warnings – Met Office

Find out more about keeping safe in extreme weather: Beat the heat: staying safe in hot weather – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The UK Health Security Agency has an update on hot weather safety: Staying safe in extreme heat – UK Health Security Agency (blog.gov.uk)