HOUSTON LAUNCHES CITY DATA DASHBOARD TO TRACK HEAT-RELATED ER VISITS, HEALTH RISKS
In a summer absent of heat alerts for Houston so far, city officials are turning to data to stay aware of the health threat posed by the heat and help protect residents from extreme temperatures.
The Houston Health Department launched a new and interactive Summer Surveillance dashboard this week in an attempt to track how heat affects public health across the region. The public tool was developed by the city's Data Science program - the same team behind the city's wastewater COVID-19 tracking system - to break down real-time data on heat-related illnesses, vulnerable populations, and geographic hot spots.
{ "__type": "devHubFreeformEmbed", "__id": "Datawrapper", "__fallbackImage": "https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/tpGYz/mobile.png", "__data": { "datawrapper_id": "tpGYz" } }"Extreme heat is becoming increasingly more common, and it is essential to formulate tools and strategies to keep our community safe," said Loren Hopkins, chief environmental science officer for the health department.
TEXAS HEAT TRACKER: Find out how hot it'll be where you live and work with the Houston Chronicle's interactive tracker.
The data is especially timely for residents in and around Harris County. Emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses in Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties dropped to 133 in the week before Aug. 5, down from 316 during the same week in 2024. A total of 1,630 emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses have been recorded across these three counties since April 1. That includes visits for heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and other conditions exacerbated by high heat.
Heat risk varies by neighborhood, age, and race
The dashboard allows users to explore emergency room trends by time of day, day of the week, neighborhood, age group, and race or ethnicity. That granularity gives the public and policymakers a clearer picture of who is most at risk. Additionally, it may provide a clearer picture of when and where interventions like cooling centers may be needed.
"This dashboard is one segment of the work that the Houston Health Department is conducting to understand the increase in risk of various health outcomes that the Houston community may experience due to extreme heat," said Komal Sheth, a senior staff analyst with the health department.
Heat isn't just causing sunburns and dehydration. The dashboard also tracks ER visits for other heat-aggravated conditions like acute kidney injury, pregnancy complications such as pre-term birth, and cardiovascular events like stroke.
Comparing yearly heat data
One standout feature of this interactive dashboard is its ability to compare year-over-year data.
When the temperature reached 99 degrees on July 29, as many as 45 people were seen across the Houston area for heat-related emergencies, more patients than any other day so far this year. That same day in 2024, the patient count was 31, and in 2023, it was 21.
In the days following Hurricane Beryl in 2024, heat-related emergency room visits spiked as millions found themselves without power. A total of 174 people experienced heat emergencies on July 10, 2024, just two days after Beryl swiped Southeast Texas with hurricane-force winds. Unsurprisingly, that number was much lower this year on July 10, when only 20 people were admitted to the region's emergency rooms with heat-related illnesses.
Looking ahead, the department is also building an alert system to warn the public of dangerous heat days, with tips to stay safe and cool.
"We're hoping this helps keep people out of the ER and more aware of the risks," Hopkins added.
The data updates weekly every Wednesday at 2 a.m., and is available to the public from May through October.
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