Heat wave prompts Lexington to activate Extreme Heat Plan, open cooling centers
The city of Lexington has activated its Extreme Heat Plan as a heat wave drives heat indexes into the triple digits.
The area is under a heat advisory until 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Phase I of the heat plan went into effect Monday and will continue through Friday, according to the Lexington Division of Emergency Management.
That means a number of organizations that partner with the city’s Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention are operating as cooling stations, and Lextran is offering free rides to those sites for people experiencing homelessness.
Some cooling centers serve only specific populations. More information about the locations and their hours is available on the Lextran website, which has a page dedicated to the cooling centers and their hours of operation.
The city’s community centers — Dunbar, Kenwick, Castlewood, and Tates Creek — “will be open until the early evening,” the emergency management office said.
Under the plan, outreach teams will also be distributing supplies in the community.
City sanitation workers are getting an earlier start on their work this week because of the heat, so carts should be placed on the curb the night before, the city said.
Commercial trash pickup will begin at 3:30 a.m., and residential collection will start at 4:30 a.m.
“Drink plenty of fluids, stay out of the sun if possible, and check on relatives and neighbors,” the Division of Emergency Management urged citizens in a Facebook post.
