Summer in Baku: 14 cases of sunstroke this month

Fourteen Bakuvians sought medical help since early June showing symptoms of sunstroke, the city’s Chief of Emergency Aid, Doctor Rauf Nagiyev, reported.

The end of June is extremely hot with temperatures reaching 38 degrees Celsius, and, judging by the forecasts, getting hotter by the day. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources’ Department of Hydrometeorology has issued alerts, predicting an abnormal 40 degree heat wave that will persist until early July. Temperatures can be expected to reach 43 degrees average in the country.

The weather has not affected work-life just yet. Once it reaches 41°C however, it will be illegal to work outdoors or in rooms without air conditioners according to article 233 of the Labor Code. Construction workers and outdoor gardeners for example should be given paid leave.

Many Baku residents do not perceive such unusual heat as all that surprising. The same messages and warnings are announced regularly every summer. The only difference this year is that this usually happens a little later in July and August.

“Why does everyone lament that it’s hot? It’s as if you’ve moved here from the North. Are we Bakuvians not used to the heat?” wrote some surprised social network users, while others try to stay indoors during the day.

“Even hell is cooler. There are, hopefully, at least working air conditioners in the buses there,” commented some users ironically.

To be fair, most of the new Baku buses that run in the city have functioning air conditioners. But during rush hours they cannot cope with the combination of the number of people inside the cabin and the temperature outside. The old buses, on other hand, serving the outskirts and outside the city, have no air conditioning systems at all, and opening a window barely helps.