Mr. Rawles,
Thank you for your service to our country. In the deep south we are presently in the mist of a drought with high heat and humidity. As two-year preppers, my brother and I grow a few acres of vegetables and field corn for livestock that consist of chickens, hogs, milk goats and rabbits. A milk cow is in the planning. My brother is 71 and I am 68 and we were raised on the farm. I left for the air-conditioned work-force many years ago but still spend several hrs a week at manual labor. At my age I am in better physical condition and have greater rural knowledge than a very high percentage of people over the age of fifty. That said, I can only work four hours or so in the mornings before running out of gas. In a world without electricity, this means starvation. The drought has fried our crops and if we were depending on them to survive, we would be in trouble. (Watering crops without electrical pumps is only available to a few with spring fed creeks.) My point in writing is on preparing to survive without air-conditioning.
First, relocate to a cooler climate. (To the Redoubt States [1] in the Rockies.)
Second, keep yourself hydrated at all times.
Third, get your body in shape by working out inside or outside early in the morning. (Only with a buddy in summer).
Fourth, be very careful when out in the heat but try sitting in the shade for a few minutes each day to become acclimated to the stress of high temps. Start with a few minutes and work up to an hour. Read a book. If at any time you feel ill or ‘light-headed’ go inside.
Fifth, if you are overweight, please slim down.
Sixth, whatever you think you are capable of doing in a world with no air conditioning, reduce it by 80% and then see if you can survive.
By no means am I an expert, but given the condition, health, and mind set of most people, I believe we will have a human disaster the first summer without air-conditioning in the south. I know some older folks will say, like me, they grew up without air conditioning but that was with a different body and frame of mind. Most homes built in the south in the last fifty years were designed for air conditioning and become death traps without it. They do not have screens on windows or screen doors so if you open them you are eaten alive by insects and invite unwanted two-legged villains.
FWIW, I have purchased rolls of screen wire, not the plastic type, for eventual barter).
I know this doesn’t do justice to the subject of heat, but if you live in the south and have a family, consider moving. Odds are, if you stay, you aren’t going to make it [in a grid-down collapse]. Best plan: relocate! – Deep South Charlie