Mexico was supposed to be potentially a target of another Mother Nature onslaught of heat this week, but thankfully, she decided to cut the city and region a slight break.

With temperatures expected to hit around 100 for three straight days, only Tuesday hit the 3-digit barrier, but a series of cloud cover helped keep the next day in the low 90s-high 80s and any oppressive heat was avoided.

However, the city and Audrain County representatives are well aware that the summer will likely offer more threats to heat that will be delivered and expect people to be prepared how to correctly combat such a situation.

Carl Donaldson (Director of Emergency Management for Audrain County) and Graeme Goodwin (Audrain County Ambulance District Director) both acknowledge that the time is now to make sure one avoids any issues with excessive heat.

“Heat is one of those silent killers,” Donaldson said. “I had heat stroke about six years ago and now I am more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. Once, you have had heat stroke, it just becomes so much worse. Until people are pushed to the point where they are actually sick, they don’t realize what their body is trying to tell them.

“Somebody who has had it already, you know the warning signs because you have already been to the edge.”

Donaldson said that people know it is hot out – especially during summer months – but sometimes aren’t aware of the warning signs that creep up.

“You don’t know if you are in danger or not,” Donaldson said. “Everybody is different. It’s hard to tell somebody ‘know what your body can do or take,’ when they may have not experienced a heat-related incident. They might know what their body is trying to tell them.”

Goodwin reported that as of early Thursday, it had been a pretty uneventful period for close calls dealing with the heat to date.

“We have been pleasantly surprised that our call volume for heat related and dehydration has been very low,” Goodwin said. “In our patient care report program I looked at primary impression, so heat may have been a contributing factor to some of our calls, where the primary impression was something else. So in the last three days, primary impression would indicate three cases. Overall there are several more calls - maybe three or four - that look like heat/dehydration probably contributed to the patient’s condition.

“Earlier this year when we first started having heat advisories we had a few more, it seems people are listening and taking precautions on the most part.”

According to FEMA, extreme heat often results in the highest annual number of deaths among any weather-related disasters.

In most of the United States, extreme heat is a long period of 2-3 days of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees.

Elderly, disabled and children tend to be at a greater risk, it can happen anywhere and humidity increases the feeling of heat as measured by the heat index.

FEMA recommend these steps in the event you are under an extreme heat warning.

• Find air conditioning, if possible

• Avoid strenuous activities

• Watch for heat illness

Wear light clothing

Check on family members and neighbors

Drink plenty of fluids

Watch for heat cramps (muscles pains or spasms in stomach, arms, legs), heat exhaustion (heavy sweating, paleness, cramps, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, fainting) and heat stroke (extremely high body temperatures above 103 degrees indicated by oral thermometer, red, hot and dry skin with no sweat, rapid and strong pulse, dizziness, confusion and unconsciousness

Never leave people or pets in a closed car

Donaldson said “sweating is a good thing,” but when you stop sweating it means your body is out of water and “at that point it’s almost too late and you will likely deal with heat-related issues.”

It also doesn’t hurt to cover windows with drapes or shades, weather strip doors and windows and use window reflectors such as aluminum-foil-covered cardboard to reflect heat back outside.

Also, surprisingly it is advised to not use electric fans when the temperature outside is more than 95 degrees. An increase in the risk of heat-related illness and fans create air flow and a false sense of comfort, but do not reduce body temperature.

Donaldson said high humidity doesn’t help things during hotter months and people who move to areas like Missouri after living in a dry climate is even worse on those type of persons.

“The heat index – the feel-like temperature – in Arizona, it might be 110 degrees, but the humidity may be 5 percent,” Donaldson said.

Visit https://community.fema.gov for more information on various ways to protect yourself and others in the face of various natural threats.