BY GARY-JON LYSAGHT

Wallsend is expected to be one of the worst hit parts of the Hunter when the heatwave hits the region over the weekend.



Sonia Hornery

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted Wallsend will reach as high as 47 degrees Celcius on Saturday and 46 degrees Celcius on Sunday.

Forecasted extreme weather conditions have prompted Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery to ask everyone in her electorate to try and beat the heat.

“With Wallsend predicted to be the hottest place in Australia on Saturday, I want everyone to be very careful and take the necessary action to stay safe,” she said.

“It’s very easy to dismiss these temperatures but a heatwave can be fatal to many in our community.”

She said anyone who hasn’t got air conditioning installed at their own home, should make their way to the local library or shopping centre and spend the day in there.

Going to the local pool was also touted by Ms Hornery as another valuable way to beat the heat.

During the heatwave over the weekend, Ms Hornery said she wanted everyone sparing a thought and looking after more vulnerable members of our community, including the elderly and pets.

“During this hot weather, it is vital that elderly, the young and our pets are protected,” she said.

“Particularly with pets, I think that sometimes it’s something that people overlook.  Have they got shelter?  Have they got somewhere to get a cool drink?”

The Hunter is expected to swelter through the biggest heatwave to hit the region in decades, where parts of the region will teeter dangerously close to 50 degrees Celcius mark, including Singleton, which will also push into the high 40s.



Children try to cool down in 1939.

Picture:

Newcastle Herald

As awful as the weather will be over the next few days, a massive heatwave – one of the most devastating on record – passed through the Hunter in 1939, a time when it was much harder to cool down.

During that heatwave, Singleton recorded a temperature of 49.4 degrees Celcius.  The


Newcastle Herald

reported

that during that heatwave, five people died.

“Working conditions are utterly beyond human endurance,” the

Herald

reported at the time.