A youngster cools off at the Alaskan Adventure splash pad at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, July 21, 2016, as high temperatures and humidity affect much of the central U.S., making it feel as hot as 115 degrees Fahrenheit in some places and leading some cities to open cooling stations and take other precautions. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Hard to think about summer in a city without thinking about water. City Lab has a number of good reads here.
Early one September morning in 1975, in a quiet Metairie subdivision west of Transcontinental Drive, a ranch house suddenly exploded in a fireball so powerful it damaged 20 neighboring buildings and broke windows a mile away. The house plus four adjacent homes were reduced to rubble, and 11 people were seriously injured.