{"id":224399,"date":"2025-06-25T15:45:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T19:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=224399"},"modified":"2025-06-25T15:45:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T19:45:44","slug":"richmond-county-opens-cooling-centers-as-dangerous-heat-hits-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=224399","title":{"rendered":"Richmond County Opens Cooling Centers As Dangerous Heat Hits Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Richmond County has opened eight cooling centers to help residents escape the dangerous heat wave sweeping across Georgia today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\udf21\ufe0f <strong>Why It Matters:<\/strong> With heat index values expected to reach up to 109 degrees, these cooling centers provide a lifesaving option for people without air conditioning or those most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u2744\ufe0f <strong>Where To Find Relief:<\/strong> Richmond County&#8217;s cooling centers are spread throughout Augusta and Hephzibah, with varying hours:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carrie J. Mays Center: 1014 11th Ave, Augusta (10:30AM-7:00PM)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bernie Ward Center: 1941 Lumpkin Rd, Augusta (hours not specified)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blythe Center: 3129 HWY 88, Blythe (9:30AM-6:00PM)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Henry H. Brigham Center: 2463 Golden Camp Rd, Augusta (11:00AM-8:00PM)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>May Park: 622 4th Street, Augusta (9:30AM-8:00PM)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>McBean Center: 1155 Hephzibah\/McBean Rd, Hephzibah (8:30AM-6:00PM)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sand Hills Center: 2540 Wheeler Rd, Augusta (9:00AM-5:00PM)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Warren Road Center: 300 Warren Rd, Augusta (10:00AM-7:00PM)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udea8 <strong>Who&#8217;s At Risk:<\/strong> The elderly, young children, people with certain medical conditions, and those without access to air conditioning face the highest danger during extreme heat events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udeb0 <strong>Stay Safe:<\/strong> Health officials recommend drinking plenty of water, limiting outdoor activities during peak heat hours, and checking on vulnerable neighbors and family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 <strong>Beyond Cooling Centers:<\/strong> Columbia County residents can visit Bessie Thomas Community Center at 5913 Euchee Creek Dr. in Grovetown (7am-1:30pm, Monday-Friday).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udcf1 <strong>Need Help?<\/strong> Each cooling center has a phone number listed for those needing more information. The Robert Howard Community Center in Diamond Lakes (103 Diamond Lakes Way, Hephzibah) is also available at 706-826-1370.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richmond County has opened eight cooling centers to help residents escape the dangerous heat wave sweeping across Georgia today. \ud83c\udf21\ufe0f Why It Matters: With heat index values expected to reach up to 109 degrees, these cooling centers provide a lifesaving option for people without air conditioning or those most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. \u2744\ufe0f Where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":224422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6067],"tags":[13894,15791,11842],"class_list":["post-224399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weather","tag-cooling-centers","tag-extreme-heat","tag-heat-advisory","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=224399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=224399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}