In June and July of 2021, a heat dome settled over western Canada and the north-western US for five days. It pushed temperatures in many places as high as 49.5 C, shattering longstanding records over thousands of square miles.
The heat dome event killed hundreds of people in British Columbia, caused hundreds of wildfires, and had a devastating impact on wildlife.
Here at Oxfordshire CC, we understand that the best strategy in preparing our residents for future extreme weather is to look around the world at the worst that has happened elsewhere and, unless there are scientific reasons it couldn't happen here, ensure we are prepared for it, whenever it arrives.
In order to understand the question ‘what if it happened here?', we are finding the people, especially policymakers, who have been through those events and listening to their account of the experience. We ask what did they do? What worked well, and what didn't? What have they learned? What would they do differently if it happened again tomorrow? Next year? In retrospect, what would they have done one year, two years, 5-10 years beforehand in order to be better prepared, had they known in advance what was going to happen?
We use these insights proactively to reduce the potential impact and to improve our preparation, and emergency response when it happens here.
And we know we may not have as much time as we would hope. It is a huge worry that even the people whose job it is to try to predict extreme weather events are finding them arriving decades before they expected. We have all been thrust into the front line and we need to work together to keep our families, neighbourhoods and businesses safe and secure.
The Canadian heatwave of 2021 was an event that hadn't been anticipated or planned for. It was so extreme we can say an event like it has probably never been seen in the history of humanity. It was preceded by a drought and followed immediately after by wildfires. That winter they suffered massive flooding, made worse by the fire-scorched earth, which couldn't absorb the extreme rainfall.
It's vital that we learn from the Canadian experience, using their insights to plan for future extreme weather and ensure that Oxfordshire becomes as climate resilient as it can.
That's why we reached out and asked to be put in touch with anyone involved in in policy making at the Provincial Health Services Authority in British Columbia.
One of their scientific directors kindly gave up their time last month to give us an account of what happened, what they learned, and the changes they have put in place since.
They focused on the impact of a prolonged period of extreme heat on excess mortality, with a particular focus on vulnerable residents over the age of 55 who were affected disproportionately. It provided a disturbing yet fascinating insight into the individuals and communities who are at most risk from such an event, the importance of urban greening and a well-designed built environment, and what an effective public health response to an extreme heat event may involve.
We learned about the impacts on health, food, water, power, transport, and communications, the dangers faced by residents and the challenges posed to the health services.
Hearing a personal account of being in a leadership role during a climate disaster was also enlightening and certainly concentrates the mind when it comes to trying to deal with climate change head-on, which is what Oxfordshire CC has pledged to do.
On 19 July last year, Oxfordshire experienced the highest temperature ever recorded in the county – 38.4C. In other parts of the UK the temperature reached 40.2C – breaking the previous UK record of 38.7C.
Unfortunately, this heatwave was not an aberration. It is the shape of things to come as extreme weather becomes more frequent more rapidly than had been expected.
Will Oxfordshire ever experience an event such as the Canadian heat dome? We won't know until it arrives – which is why gaining knowledge and insight such as this is so important.
Pete Sudbury is Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for climate change and environment and Tom Layzell is climate adaptation policy project lead
@OxfordshireCC
