The search for bodies continues. Public housing officials have been instructed to go door to door; in some cases the smell of rotting flesh has alerted neighbors to more victims. The dead are spread in random dots across the city with no respect for neighborhood or affluence.

The Department on Aging has been able to reach thousands of seniors through the home delivery meal program to check their conditions. Just yesterday one of the drivers found a client unconscious in an apartment and called to have that person taken to the hospital, Daley said at an induction ceremony for police officers attended by Attorney General Janet Reno.

Commonwealth Edison, under fire by the mayor’s office for notifying the city too slowly about power outages, met with city lawyers Tuesday. The utility agreed to consider reimbursing private citizens and businesses that lost money because of extended loss of power. In one community, 41,000 people were without electricity for at least 12 hours and many for as long as three days. Commonwealth Edison has launched an internal investigation.

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The city is waiting to see if it will be designated a national disaster area, which will make it eligible for federal assistance. On Monday Gov. Jim Edgar (R) declared Cook County a state disaster region, freeing up state aid. The mayor’s office said federal funds are needed to cover the high cost of the heat crisis both to private businesses and the city’s coffers.