PHOENIX (AP) – The temperature in Phoenix hit a whopping 115 degrees Tuesday, making it the city’s hottest day so far this year.

The scorching heat prompted an excessive heat warning earlier in the day from the National Weather Service. It remains in effect until 8 p.m.

Forecasters are urging people to take several precautions. They include drinking water even when you’re not thirsty, cutting down on time in the sun and avoiding outdoor activity in the afternoon. Anyone who has to be outside should try to find shade because the ground can be anywhere from 40 to 60 degrees hotter, the weather service said.

Officials also are reminding people to not leave children or pets in their cars.

At the Phoenix Zoo, staff members were taking extra measures to keep monkeys, bears and other animals cool. Zookeepers were handing out special treats of big ice blocks with food like sunflower seeds frozen inside. Elephants received a special hose-down.

“At the Phoenix zoo, we consider that whenever we bring an animal in is their temperature requirements in the wild – what they can deal with – and some animals we just won’t have here at the Phoenix Zoo because it’s too hot for them and we can’t keep them as cool as they should be,” said Angela Comedy, the zoo’s carnivore collection manager.

All of the animal habitats are equipped with pools or misters. In addition, the animals’ cooler night-time houses open once the outdoors become too hot.

•••

Suspected tornado

in Mississippi from Barry’s wet remnants

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A suspected tornado struck a rural area of north Mississippi on Tuesday, damaging homes and knocking down trees and power lines as the wet remnants of Tropical Storm Barry rumbled through several states, officials said.

A storm that may have included a tornado passed through Victoria, Mississippi, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, National Weather Service forecaster Andrew Chiuppi said.

About a dozen homes were damaged by either straight-line winds or a tornado, Marshall County Emergency Management Director Hugh Hollowell said. A few people were checked out for very minor injuries, he said.

Crews were trying Tuesday afternoon to reach areas that were blocked off by large, fallen trees and downed, active power lines, Hollowell said.

Weather service experts were going to survey the area to confirm whether a tornado touched down.

Marshall County resident Jennifer Foy told WREG-TV that windows were blown out of her home.

“All we heard was a loud boom,” Foy said. “I guess it was a transformer blowing, and the wind just started moving things across the porch, and it started moving my grill across the porch, so I grabbed the kids and threw them into the bathtub.”

Storms caused by what was left of Barry have soaked parts of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, causing flash flooding in rural areas and prompting the shutdown of a stretch of interstate that links Little Rock and Dallas because of water on the road.

Barry spared New Orleans and Baton Rouge from catastrophic flooding but still drenched other parts of Louisiana with torrential rains. Cities as far as Memphis reported heavy rain from Barry: More than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of rain have fallen since Friday, Chiuppi said.

In Arkadelphia, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Little Rock, heavy rains inundated an animal shelter, and the shelter says one puppy died.

By 2 p.m. Arkansas Department of Transportation officials said lanes in both directions of Interstate 30, which had been closed due to flooding, were reopened. One small section heading eastbound remained closed while crews addressed slope erosion.