Vista de los alrededores congelados de un lago, en Chicago (EE.UU.). EFE/ Enrique García Fuentes

Chicago (USA) / The unusual wave of polar cold has forced the inhabitants of Chicago to install stoves on the platforms while they are waiting for the subway train or to take refuge in “heating centres” authorized by the Mayor’s Office.

The freezing temperatures have made it an odyssey for passengers to take the “L”, as Chicago’s elevated train is called, because most stations are outdoors.

Crowed into the stoves on the platforms, wrapped from head to toe and carrying hot drinks, pedestrians withstand temperatures up to 19 degrees Celsius below zero, with a thermal sensation of 25 degrees below zero and threats of snowstorm.

It’s an emergency which occurs “once per decade, or every two decades,” Dave Dombek, chief meteorologist at Accuweather, said.

The stoves give a few minutes of relief, but enough to keep away the risk of freezing or hypothermia while the train arrives.

SIGNS OF FROSTBITE

The 911 Emergency Office in the city has warned these brave citizens that the signs of frostbite are tingling, palpitations and numbness in the fingers and toes, ears and nose.

Body fluids are crystallized and expanded, causing tissue damage that can lead to death because of the frostbite.

“I know very well that once you start to feel this is time to find a warm environment, away from the cold,” said, Milva, a nurse interviewed by EFE while she was waiting for the train.

“I look like a bear, nothing fancy, but it’s the only way to survive,” said Milva.

Wrapped up from the head to the ankles and with earmuffs, gloves and fur hat, Milva explained she had thermal underwear, thermal pants, several layers of woollen clothes, heavy boots.

What the nurse faces is much more than the 12-year-old Anana polar bear in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo is willing to endure, which in these frigid days remains indoors.

In the coming days it’s expected to be even colder, and the polar wind blowing from Michigan Lake can cause frostbite in less than half an hour to people who remain exposed, warned today the director of the 911 Emergency Office, Rich Guidice.

“Chicago gets used to extreme cold, but its residents must be cautious and not expose themselves, in addition to being attentive to what happens to their neighbours, family and friends,” he added.

People who have heating problems in their homes can go to six “warm-up centres” operated by the Department of Support and Services to Families.

In one of them, Messiah Johnson told EFE he was allowed to spend the night. “I don’t know what I would have done without this help, I would have had to sleep in the street,” he said.

The municipality didn’t give figures on concurrence, but reported that some centres were full of capacity and had to extend the services at night to care for the homeless.

Public libraries, police stations and parks service facilities also receive people who need to temporarily protect themselves from the cold.

The National Weather Service’s forecast for the Chicago area is of a “dangerously” cold weather over the weekend, which will be followed next by a significant snowstorm and an “excessive risk of extreme cold,” possibly with casualties. unprecedented temperatures.

The Emergency Office encourages residents to prepare for the extreme cold and difficulties caused by snow, by storing food and caring for their vehicles.

It also warns that slippery pavement conditions cause accidents, such as the 14-vehicle chain crash, with no injuries, on Thursday morning on Lakeshore Drive, the road that borders the lake and one of the channels that channel the most of high-speed traffic in the city. (January 29, 2019, EFE/Practica Español)

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