Police and family found a woman dead in a hot apartment Monday evening in St. Ann.
St. Ann Police Maj. Blake Carrigan said Shauna Thomas’ apartment did not have air conditioning running when officers arrived.
“We found that it was very hot in the apartment,” Carrigan said.
Ameren Missouri had shut off the 55-year-old’s electricity for nonpayment on June 11, Carrigan said the utility told police.
The St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office is conducting an investigation, and a spokesperson for the county provided no additional information.
“She did have several medical issues that we think may have contributed to her passing,” Carrigan said. “Right now, they're thinking it's natural causes, but obviously they want to investigate to see if the heat had anything to do with it.”
Experts say that across the country, heat often exacerbates underlying health issues, which can lead to it being underreported as a primary cause of death.
The St. Louis region has been under a heat advisory since June 20, with temperatures over 90 degrees and a heat index of more than 100 degrees with humidity.
The temperatures triggered Missouri’s Hot Weather Law, which prevents utilities from disconnecting customers when extreme heat is expected. The law has been in effect since Friday.
But the Hot Weather Law does not protect customers like Thomas, whose power had been shut off before the heat wave began. The high temperature on June 11, when Thomas’ power was shut off, was 88 degrees. The cutoff for the state law is 95 degrees or a 105-degree heat index.
“We are saddened to learn about the passing of one of our customers,” an Ameren Missouri spokesperson said in a statement. “While we cannot share specific customer account details due to privacy considerations, our thoughts are with the individual’s family and friends.”
Ameren said it has assistance programs for customers who are struggling to pay their bills.
“We encourage anyone facing difficulty with their utility bills to contact us or visit our website to learn more about available payment plans, energy assistance programs and community resources,” the spokesperson wrote. “For the most up-to-date cooling center information, customers can call 211.”
Ameren disconnected more than 90,000 customers who were behind on their electricity bills from March to December last year, according to data obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute. In the first five months of this year, the utility disconnected another 31,000 households. At last count, more than 200,000 customers were in arrears.
“With the number of disconnections that have occurred and the high temperatures that we're experiencing, I'm not surprised at all that someone died,” said Sandra Padgett, executive director of the Consumers Council of Missouri. “What surprises and shocks me is that there wasn't more planning to prevent this.”
Missouri recently passed a new law that will expand Missouri’s Hot Weather Law, barring Ameren and other utilities from shutting off power during a 72-hour span around extreme temperatures, instead of 24 hours.
But Padgett said with Missouri’s fluctuating summer temperatures, the rules allow for disconnections between hot spells that could be dangerous.
“The human body just can't tolerate temperatures at high levels for long periods of time, so what Consumers Council has advocated for is a summerlong moratorium that would protect people during the entire summer and that may work to prevent these kinds of deaths,” Padgett said.
Ameren has also paused disconnections in areas affected by the May 16 tornado through the end of July. Padgett said her organization has asked Ameren to extend that moratorium through August and September because temperatures regularly reach dangerous levels in those months, too.
“If people have been disconnected, they're not going to be reconnected just because the temperatures have gone back,” Padgett said.
Heat is the deadliest weather-related event in the U.S., according to the National Weather Service, killing more people each year than floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.
To stay safe during the ongoing heat wave, St. Louis County’s Department of Health said people should drink lots of water, wear light, loose clothing and spend at least part of the day in the air conditioning. People feeling sick because of the heat should call 911.
There are also St. Louis organizations, including EnergyCare and Cool Down St. Louis, that help low-income, elderly and disabled people with air conditioning issues.
Correction: Consumer's Council has requested a disconnection moratorium for tornado victims through the end of September.
