Nearly 500 People Die From Heat Wave in US, Canada

Nearly 550 people have died in the last few days as heat waves hit the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

At least 63 people have died in Oregon since Friday, including 45 who lived in Multnomah County. Many of the dead between the ages of 44 and 97 were “discovered alone without air conditioning or fans,” state medical officials said, reports NBC News.

In Multnomah County, people died of hyperthermia. By comparison, only 12 people died from hyperthermia in Oregon between 2017 and 2019.

“This was a real health crisis that emphasized how deadly extreme heat waves were,” said Jennifer Weins, a health officer in Multnomah County said to The Wall Street Journal, “Our summer keeps getting warmer, so I think we’ll face this kind of event again.”

On Sunday, June 27, temperatures in Portland reached 112 degrees Celsius. According to the report, temperatures reached a record high of 115 degrees Celsius on Monday and rose to 116 degrees Celsius in Salem on Tuesday.

In British Columbia, Canada, at least 486 people died between Friday and Wednesday afternoons. British Columbia’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said deaths are expected to increase significantly as extreme weather events prolong.

On Tuesday, British Columbia meteorological authorities recorded a temperature of 121 degrees Celsius. It was the third consecutive day that the state broke the record for the heat wave.

In the British Columbia city of Vancouverites, some people were able to fried eggs on the terrace due to the extreme heat. Others checked in to an air-conditioned hotel to escape the heat.

Studies published in the journal Natural climate change On May 31, it was found that at least 37% of heat-related deaths could be related to the effects of climate change. The study was conducted by 70 researchers using data and climate modeling from more than 40 countries.

According to experts, global warming has caused baseline temperatures to rise by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900.

Researchers also attributed heat-related deaths to climate change-related heat waves and warmer months.

Eastern Canada and the United States recorded record temperatures during extreme heat waves. The map shows the predicted temperature up to July 1, 2021.