As a teenage girl might say: Not cool.
Because the city workers’ strike forced the closure of several buildings usually designated “emergency cooling centres” on scorching summer days, the city yesterday told the overheated to chill at one of seven alternate facilities.
The downtown temperature reached a one-hour average high of 30.1 degrees Celsius, with a humidex reading of 34. The city issued an extreme heat alert.
But that warning is primarily intended to protect seniors, young children and others at high risk for heat-related illness. The middle-aged and healthy appeared unimpressed.
“I went to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar, and the temperature was 50, 55, and I survived.
Here, it gets to 30 and they start panicking,” scoffed Lebanon native Ziad Abou-Chacra, 58.
