News 12 @6' o'clock -- August 6, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga--With scorching temperatures hitting close to 100 the past few days, Carrie Wagner has needed to find a way to stay cool other than her home.

"I'm beating the heat by coming over here. I get cooler when I come over here, " said Carrie.

Carrie and other seniors come to the Carrie J. Mays senior program to cool off. She has two air conditioner units and a fan to cool her five room home, and those two units just aren't enough.

"Oh, it gets pretty hot in there and at night, its very hot in there, " said Carrie.

But stories like Carrie's aren't rare.

"They're some people who only use box fans and that concerns me because the weather's so hot and that hot air is blowing in and I'm just worried about them, " said Janice Hampton, senior coordinator at Carrie J. Mays.

But seniors aren't the only ones suffering from the high heat. Construction workers on local sites say the heat is almost making their jobs unbearable.

"It's sweltering. I mean you just have to drink a lot of water, stay hydrated. And if it gets too bad, just go and take a break, that's all you can do, " said Nathan Burgess of Higgins Construction.

The high temperatures motivated Nathan to create a system of his own to stay cool.

"I try to keep a cool rag around my neck because if you keep your blood flowing to your brain, it cools off and then you can pretty much operate, " said Nathan.

But for seniors like Carrie, that won't help her beat the heat.

"Oh, its been terrible, " said Carrie.

The Carrie J. Mays senior program is open daily until 2pm.
However, the gym is open for extended hours for cooling on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until 7pm and Tuesdays and Wednesdays until 9pm.