Ten large, refrigerated containers capable of helping with morgue overflow were trucked to Phoenix this week as a precautionary measure for the city, according to multiple reports, as Phoenix navigates another week of brutal and historic temperatures.
A sign reading 'Today's High: 115' is posted in South Mountain Park amid the city's worst heat wave ... [+]
Maricopa County, one of the most populous counties in the U.S. with more than 4.5 million residents, brought the eight-foot by 20-foot refrigerated containers to a parking garage near the county medical examiner’s office, according to CBS.
The medical examiner's office has a standard capacity of 224 bodies and a surge capacity of 358, capacities that have both been reached, according to an NBC interview with Jason Berry, a Maricopa County spokesman.
Berry told NBC that no bodies are being stored in the containers as of yet, but that the intake surge has been worse than typical surges seen in July.
Maricopa County has recorded 25 heat-related deaths so far this year.
Thanks to nearly a month’s worth of temperatures reaching more than 110 degrees, Phoenix is likely to be the first major city in the country to reach an average monthly temperature higher than 100 degrees.
Phoenix hit its latest record daily high at 118 degrees Wednesday, pushing the city’s streak of consecutive days with temperatures higher than 110 degrees to 26 days. The heatwaves experienced by Phoenix and several other cities across the country have been considered a consequence of the El Niño weather phenomena, which typically brings wetter conditions in the South and warmer and drier conditions in the North. The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization declared early this month that El Niño had formed in the Pacific. The organization also warned of record temperatures worldwide as El Niño developed further. The National Weather Service said July 13 there was a more than 90% chance that El Niño will continue through the winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Phoenix Hits 26 Straight Days Above 110 Degrees: Here’s Where Else Daily Records Have Fallen (Forbes)
Fearing a surge in heat deaths, Phoenix adds refrigerated containers to store bodies (NBC)
Medical examiner in Phoenix adds refrigerated containers for backup storage (CBS)