San Benito County will not have cooling centers during excessive heat watch

HOLLISTER Calif. (KION) - More than a third of Americans are dealing with the extreme heat this weekend.

Monterey County opening up cooling centers. While San Benito County has not.

On Friday, Hollister hit the 80s and will hit the 90s by Saturday.

Cal OES says that still won't be hot enough to open cooling centers.

"It gets obscenely hot out here. you know, we're living in a valley, so valleys tend to get a lot hotter than most coastal areas," said Carol Holthouse who lives in Hollister.

Holthouse has been living in Hollister for 13 years and says the city needs to do more to protect people from the heat.

"People, especially who don't have the money or resources to be able to do that, you're automatically putting people at grave risk, especially we're talking about kids, elderly, anybody with any respiratory issues or anything like that. It's kind of extremely inconsiderate," said Holthouse.

While neighboring counties like Monterey are providing over 15 cooling centers, San Benito is not.

"We just don't feel the need at this time to open centers," said Kris Mangano the Emergency Services Manager with EOS in San Benito County.

Others like Marisela who are currently using their AC, think otherwise.

"I have to turn it on. For example, it was hot yesterday, I had it on all night and during the day," said Marisela who lives in Hollister.

Mindy Sotelo, a supervisor in San Benito County says plans to open cooling centers will change once the weather does.

"OES is fully monitoring the weather. So it's going to get you know, it's going to exceed and get real excessive and we can reassess at that time," said Sotelo.

Cal OES says there are ac units available. If you need them, contact Cal OES.