3COM Weather Report: Texas haze alert continued until Wednesday
Cox News Service - Posted at 7:16 p.m. PDT Monday, May 18, 1998
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas' environmental agency on Sunday extended a
smoke-related health alert across the state until noon Wednesday, as a
veil of haze from fires in Mexico and Central America lingered.
A team of U.S. officials in Mexico, meanwhile, began assessing the
fires and outlining an attack plan to bring them under control. In the
next few days, the team will make a list of equipment and personnel
needed, said Larry Neal, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm,
R-Texas.
After that, he said, Congress should act quickly to fill the request.
''Our function in this is to make sure that the bureaucrats sitting in
air-conditioned offices in Washington are aware that the smoke and
soot that has tainted the skies in Texas is approaching a crisis situation,''
Neal said. ''They need to take it seriously.''
While no major health problems have been reported, anecdotal
evidence of smoke-related maladies -- watery eyes, sore throats,
headaches, congestion -- continues to mount.
Dr. Diane Garza, an Austin Diagnostic Clinic pediatrician, said about 25
percent of the children she saw at an after-hours clinic over the
weekend were experiencing such symptoms. Many of the children had
never had allergy problems, she said.
''It kind of raises a red flag,'' Garza said. ''I told them one by one to
stay out of the smoke.''
Loretta Sowa, a nursing supervisor for Austin Regional Clinic's
after-hours office, said the staff is noticing an increase in the number of
teen-agers and adults with migraine symptoms. Also, more asthmatic
children are relying on special machines, called nebulizers, that help
ease breathing, she said.
The winds out of Mexico shifted to the west over the weekend, and as
a result the air in Austin on Sunday was less than half as dirty as it was
late last week. Still, many landmarks on the Austin skyline, including the
University of Texas Tower, were partially hidden in the gray-white
smog.
There was no indication that things would substantially improve this
week.
''The scope of these fires is huge,'' said Bryan Lambeth, a senior
meteorologist with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission in Austin. ''There is still plenty of smoke and haze in the
Gulf of Mexico that is feeding into Texas.''
In all, about 1.2 million acres of land have burned as a result of
agricultural fires aided by El Ni¤o-driven winds and heat, according to
Mario Guillermo Huacuja Rountree, a spokesman for Mexico's
environmental agency.
The Mexican fires cover an area that in Texas would stretch from
Brownsville to Amarillo, Lambeth said.
The conservation commission reported hazy conditions Sunday from the
Rio Grande Valley to Lubbock and Amarillo. Visibility was as low as a
quarter-mile Sunday in Houston.
Skies cleared briefly late Saturday as a weak cool front moved through
Texas, but the system was unable to generate needed rain, and a
high-pressure ridge kept moisture away.
The extended health alert cautions children, the elderly and people with
respiratory conditions and heart disease to avoid physical exertion and
outdoor activity.
Children younger than one year and those with asthma or other
respiratory illnesses should avoid outdoor activity, said Garza. Also,
parents should watch their children for health problems after they've
played outside or gone on field trips.
''There is something going on in the air and if they notice symptoms,
they need to bring their children inside where there is air conditioning,''
she said.
With no air conditioner in her East Austin home, Mattie Fowler, 82, said
she's taking things easier. The two fans in her home aren't doing much
to clear the indoor air of smoke and haze, she said.
''I can't hardly breathe,'' Fowler said. ''My hay fever is real bad, but
this kind of stuff makes it worse.''
Fowler said she's staying near her fans, keeping off her feet and
avoiding trips outdoors. ''To tell you the truth, everybody is staying
indoors around here,'' she said. ''It's just real bad.''
Meanwhile, environmentalists contend that the state last week
underestimated the risk to residents and discounted reports of health
problems.
Health alerts should have been issued when particulate levels reached
50 micrograms per cubic meter of air rather than the state's benchmark
of 150, said Neil Carman, a chemist and former state air pollution
inspector who now runs the clean-air program for the Sierra Club's
Texas chapter.
''I don't think there's any way they could prove that nobody was at risk
from this pollution,'' Carman said. ''They're not really doing enough.''
But Texas officials said their information was based on data from a
statewide monitoring network that is being replaced and also on state
and federal health standards that are under attack.
The monitoring network, officials acknowledge, isn't adequate to
determine the possible health effects of last week's smoke or similar
incidents. They said their statements were drawn from the facts and
the best-possible guesses.
''We weighed everything very carefully and came up with what we
believe was a reasonable response,'' said Barry McBee, chairman of
the conservation commission.
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