Heat wave claims lives of Mississippi woman with Down syndrome and her sister

From The Sun-Herald in Miss.:

HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. — Two sisters found dead, sitting side by side on a couch, had died two weeks earlier of a heat stroke in their mobile home, Coroner Gary Hargrove said August 5.

Elizabeth Thomas, 65, and Jennifer Thomas, 57, were found August 4 at their mobile home on Smith Road near Canal Road.

“Their air conditioner did not work properly and was blowing air the same temperature as the air outside,” Hargrove said. “They were the last two surviving members of their family. They had no family to check on them.”

Their deaths mark the fourth and fifth heat-related deaths reported statewide during a prolonged heat wave.

A heat advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Slidell is expected to remain in effect at least through tonight.

Hargrove said Elizabeth Thomas owned the mobile home and leased space from a landowner. Her younger sister had Down’s Syndrome and had moved in with her after their mother’s death.

Elizabeth Thomas had bought two new air-conditioning units and members of a church had offered to install them, Hargrove said, “but she told them she would get somebody else to do it.”

The new units had not been installed.

The landowner had brought them their mail a couple of weeks ago and offered to help if they needed anything, Hargrove said. A neighbor and members of a church had cut their grass a month earlier.

A neighbor called the Department of Human Services on Monday with a welfare concern, Hargrove said, and a DHS worker visited the home Wednesday but couldn’t get anyone to come to the door.

Deputies were called to force open the front door around 1:35 p.m.

“The temperature in the mobile home was well above 90 degrees,” Hargrove said. “They had water and they had electricity. They had no cool air.”

Hargrove said the women died around the same time, though it appeared the younger sister may have died first. Autopsies were performed Thursday. The coroner said Down’s Syndrome contributed to the younger sister’s death.

“I urge the public to listen to the warnings about the heat wave,” Hargrove said. “People with elderly family members who live alone need to check on them.”

“You need to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water. People who work outdoors should seek shade whenever possible.”

Extreme temperatures continued Thursday across a large swath of the country, killing more than a dozen people, at least two police dogs and likely contributing to the death of Franklin the rhinoceros at a Mississippi zoo. Arkansas fire departments were volunteering to hose down overheated cattle, and people as far north as Maine were trying to stay cool.