Cold temps cause more deaths than heat in Iowa

While the temperatures have soared in recent days, state records show that Iowa is not a state where we get large numbers of deaths related to the excessive heat. Iowa Department of Public Health spokesman Kevin Teale reviewed the records and he says in the last five years there’ve been 13 heat-related deaths in Iowa. Three occurred in 2003. 2001 was the highest year with five. In fact, Teale says Iowa’s a state where cold is more of a danger than the heat. He says over the same five years there’ve been 41 cold-related deaths compared to the 13 for heat. Teale says most Iowans have a place to go to get out of the heat.He says many communities have cooling places, but even if they don’t he says you can go to a public library or a movie theatre to cool off. Teale did not have a breakdown available on the age of the people who had died from heat-related problems.