More deaths reported as intense heatwave hits US, Canada

Washington, Jun 30 (AP):
About a dozen deaths in Washington and Oregon may be tied to an intense heat wave that brought scorching temperatures to the Northwest and caused one power utility to impose rolling blackouts amid heavy demand. The dangerous weather that gave Seattle and Portland consecutive days of record high temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) eased in those cities. But inland Spokane, towns in eastern Oregon and cities in Idaho saw temperatures spike. The National Weather Service said the mercury reached 109 F (42.2 C) in Spokane the highest temperature ever recorded there.
About 9,300 Avista Utilities customers in Spokane lost power and the company said more planned blackouts began in the city of about 220,000 people.
We try to limit outages to one hour per customer, said Heather Rosentrater, an Avista vice president for energy delivery.
She said about 2,400 customers were without power as of shortly after 2 pm, mostly on the north side of the city, and those customers had been alerted about the planned outage. About 21,000 customers were warned that they might experience an outage, she said.
Rosentrater said the outages were a distribution problem, and did not stem from a lack of electricity in the system.
A sweltering heat wave that has settled over western Canada for several days is believed to be a contributing factor in dozens of sudden-death calls received by police in the Vancouver area, authorities said.
Cpl Mike Kalanj of Burnaby Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the detachment responded to 25 sudden-death calls in a 24-hour period starting Monday. The deaths are still under investigation and many of the deceased were seniors, he said.
Temperatures in the Vancouver area reached just under 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) Monday, but the humidity made it feel close to 104 degrees (40 Celsius) in areas that aren’t near water, Environment Canada said.
Meanwhile, authorities said multiple recent deaths in the region were possibly related to the scorching weather.
The King County Medical Examiner’s office said two people died due to hyperthermia, meaning their bodies had became dangerously overheated. The Seattle Times reported they were a 65-year-old Seattle woman and a 68-year-old Enumclaw, Washington, woman.
———————————

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button