- Title: Businesses in Portland, Oregon, close early amid scorching heat
- Date: 13th August 2021
- Summary: PORTLAND OREGON, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 12, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FOOD CARTS COOKS WORKING IN FOOD CART FOOD CART SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF CARTSIDE FOOD CARTS, RICK VRANISH, SAYING: "Any time it gets above 95 degrees you have to consider it because it's going to be 15-30 degrees hotter in the cart than it is outside. 95 plus 30 is very, very hot. It's just that usually 95 degrees is about as hot as it gets here and it used to be that 100 degrees was a once a year or once every couple of years situation and now we're having 102+ twice in one year. It's just totally unheard of." SUN IN SKY OVER FOOD CARTS SHUTTERED FOOD CARTS COOK SHUTTING DOWN FOOD CART (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF CARTSIDE FOOD CARTS, RICK VRANISH, SAYING: "If it's going to be 100 degrees 20 days a year, does that change the entire viability of the food cart model? You know, I hope not. It's tough. They might have to find new and innovative ways to air condition the carts. It's difficult and the AC uses a lot of power and these guys are also running fryers, multiple refrigerators, all sorts of equipment." SHUTTERED FOOD CART COOKS LEAVING FOR THE DAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF CARTSIDE FOOD CARTS, RICK VRANISH, SAYING: "It's such a conflict because food cart pods here in Portland are - have always been kind of part of the fabric of the city and I know of at least five that are opening brand new this year. The pandemic made food carts a really great idea. It's outdoors. You can operate in small groups. A lot of these carts only have 2 people working at a time. And people are really liking this move to outdoor dining and now intense temperatures are making that more difficult." WIDE INTERIOR OF A STORE WITH MANY STUFFED ANIMAL HEADS CHECKOUT COUNTER EXTERIOR OF THE STORE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF PAXTON GATES, A SPECIALTY SMALL BUSINESS THAT SELLS "TREASURES AND ODDITIES" INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL SCIENCES, ELISE LARK, SAYING: "We want to make sure we take good care of our employees and our community and just try to keep everyone as safe as possible during the heat wave. We also have some employees with animals at home that are needing care if they don't have air conditioning so that's important for us to make sure our staff take care of their family. But mostly it's just to keep everyone safe and not encourage people to come out in the heat." STORE SIGN WORKERS CLOSING THE STORE FOR THE DAY CLOSED SIGN ON DOOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF PAXTON GATES, A SPECIALTY SMALL BUSINESS THAT SELLS "TREASURES AND ODDITIES" INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL SCIENCES, ELISE LARK, SAYING: "We find that on heat wave days like this we don't have a lot of traffic flow anyway. People tend to either stay home or I think a lot of people are going to the Oregon coast hoping to escape the heat. But, like I said, we don't want to encourage people to be out in the heat and out in Portland walking the streets and shopping necessarily, just for their safety." TAXIDERMIED ANIMALS IN THE STORE CUSTOMER AT CHECK OUT COUNTER CUSTOMERS LEAVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF PAXTON GATES, A SPECIALTY SMALL BUSINESS THAT SELLS "TREASURES AND ODDITIES" INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL SCIENCES, ELISE LARK, SAYING: "Traditionally we definitely would make more income if we stayed open but with people just not coming out it's hard to gauge whether, you know, it's a good business decision to stay open without customers to support our team. So, it was a hard decision and, yeah, it does impact our business, the weather does impact our business greatly for sure but we're hanging in and we're staying positive and you know, money is secondary to our staff and the wellness of our communities." STORE INTERIOR CLOSE UP OF SIGN ON DOOR THAT READS "HEAT ADVISORY, CLOSING EARLY TODAY"
- Embargoed: 27th August 2021 09:30
- Keywords: Oregon Portland extreme weather heat wave small business stores closing early
- Location: PORTLAND OREGON, UNITED STATES
- City: PORTLAND OREGON, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Environment,United States,Weather
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQ44TVR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Multiple businesses in Portland, Oregon, closed early on Thursday (August 12) due to soaring temperatures, as the U.S. Pacific Northwest wilted under the latest sweltering heat wave to punish the region this summer.
The near-record temperatures have strained power grids and driven residents to seek shade.
Some small businesses closed early on Thursday, in part to spare their employees but also to discourage customers from coming out in the heat.
"It was a hard decision .... (but) money is secondary to our staff and the wellness of our communities," Elise Lark, who manages novelty store Paxton Gates, told Reuters.
She shuttered her store for the day at 4 pm instead of the usual 7 pm closing time.
Food trucks like CartSide Food Carts closed in the mid-afternoon even though many of them normally remain open until well after 11 pm.
"Any time it gets above 95 degrees you have to consider it because it's going to be 15-30 degrees hotter in the cart than it is outside," CartSide manager Rick Vranish told Reuters.
Portland tied a daily temperature record at 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday (August 11), as city officials opened cooling centers in libraries and schools.
The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for Oregon's Portland metropolitan area, much of the Columbia River Gorge and Willamette Valley and Washington's Vancouver area.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has declared a state of emergency. Power grids had so far held up under the strain but local officials urged residents to turn off unneeded appliances during the hottest parts of the day.
The same atmospheric conditions were blamed for a heat wave in July that scorched much of the U.S. West and fueled a string of wildfires that have burned throughout much of the summer.
(Production: Deborah Bloom, Mana Rabiee) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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