PHILADELPHIA — On the opening day of its national convention in Philadelphia, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is overheating — literally.

Hundreds of people descended on the Wells Fargo Center on Monday to find sweltering media tents and few spots for cold water or food.

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Attendees reported walking long distances — in some cases, nearly a mile — in 98-degree temperatures to get to the arena from the Uber pick-up and drop-off area.

Complaints of overcrowding, overheating and poor coordination by the DNC are escalating just as the party looks to contain the fallout from the resignation of its chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Wasserman Schultz, who was expected to open the convention’s first night, is no longer expected to speak at all this week.

Just hours before the opening gavel, only two eateries inside the convention center were serving food and drinks around lunchtime. Water bottles were priced at $4.50.

Outside, temperatures reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit by 3 p.m., with a heat index of 109 degrees.

The National Weather Service had previously warned of “multiple days of excessive heat” during the Democratic National Convention. Officials said the heat would “greatly affect those who are attending outdoor activities,” such as the thousands of people joining protests downtown.

Philadelphia officials had said they would distribute water and station two medical tents and two "misting" tents near the marches. The city has also dispatched medics to the area.

Morgan Finkelstein, a spokeswoman for the DNC's media team, said in a text Monday afternoon that its event contractor was "working on making it colder in the tents."

Just outside the convention center by the media tents, a handful of food trucks sizzled on the pavement, with no other food spots nearby. Inside the tents, water has only been made available by media outlets for their own staff.

Peeved reporters and editors have taken to Twitter to complain about the event’s disorganization, with some pining for their experience at last week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Criticism reverberated beyond the arena, as convention-goers fought traffic-clogged streets to traverse the city. The seven-mile trip between the Wells Fargo Center and media-sponsored events downtown easily took 60 to 90 minutes in a car. Uber offered up free iced coffee and snacks to customers who waited for rides in an air-conditioned tent – but only after they walked across two steamy parking lots, and then waited in long lines.

Megan Liberman, editor-in-chief of Yahoo News, described the day as “chaos.”

“To be totally objective and nonpartisan: the logistics at DNC are appalling. Squalid hotels, sweltering workspace, no directions. Chaos,” Liberman tweeted

“Walking thru hot media tents, or walking the mile from Uber drop off to hot media tents, one hears longing for CLE,” Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker tweeted

Finkelstein said the DNC was providing air conditioning in the media tents “the best that we can.” In the arena, she said they tried to “beef up AC as much as we could” — including adding two 300-ton chillers stationed near the delegates.

Finkelstein said reporters were allowed to buy or bring their own water into the convention hall or the media tents. When asked if the DNC planned to make any available in the hotter-than-expected tents, she said: “I don’t actually know if we’re allowed to provide that.”

The DNC’s media facilities had already drawn complaints before temperatures began to soar Monday. With an approaching thunderstorm late Sunday, convention officials warned reporters to be prepared to evacuate the media tents in case of lightning.

“Tents in the vicinity of the area are not designed to fully protect inhabitants in the event of a direct lightning strike,” according to an email by the DNC’s Department of Media Logistics.

Fierce thunderstorms forced a second evacuation Monday around 8 p.m., with tents brimming with reporters preparing to cover prime-time speeches. Most reporters ignored the warnings and stayed put.

Updated at 9:23 p.m.