HARRISON COUNTY, Texas — Officials are investigating the death of man that could be heat related in Harrison County.
The Harrison County Sheriff's Office confirmed they found the man's body Saturday morning. Inside the home they say it had no power and the air condition was not running.
“I don’t think we realized just how dangerous it is," said neighbor Cammi Breeding.
Breeding described the heat with no power as dangerous. She said since Thursday night, the whole neighborhood is without power and there is no word yet on when it could come back. The temperature inside her house above 90 degrees.
“It’s just hot, it’s very hot," Breeding said.
In the meantime, she’s checking in on her loved ones.
"My grandparents live two houses down, we’ve been trying to make sure to keep them fed," Breeding said.
She was also checking in on her 61-year-old neighbor, who she said suffered from asthma.
"We wanted to check on him see if he needed anything, if there was anything we could do to help him. Hot dogs, water, anything we could do to help him," Breeding said.
The Harrison County Sheriff's Office found the man dead inside the house that was stuffy and hot when they went in.
"I know the police officer who went in there was drenching sweat when he come outside and he said it was very, very hot," Breeding said.
There was no circulation of air inside his home.
"I wish I could’ve done more. I would’ve probably sat out there with him to make sure things were different," Breeding said.
Melody O'Dell with UT Health East Texas offered some advice on keeping cool while residents are still without power.
"To minimize your risk of heat exhaustion, you should try to push fluids through the day, especially plane water, fan yourself and minimize the layers you’re wearing," O'Dell said.
She mentioned medical conditions could add seriousness to heat exhaustion or a heat stroke.
"Spend your time in a well-ventilated area. So that may be spending your time outside where there’s airflow versus sitting inside in a stuffy house or in a car," O'Dell said.
Breeding has been doing just that, sitting outside and staying cool with, "ice, water. It’s pretty much all we can do."
There’s one more thing Breeding suggest we all do this summer for our elderly neighbors.
"We need to definitely check on them. Make sure that they have water, that they have phones charged that they can reach emergency personnel if they need them," Breeding said.