Six die in Montreal heat wave
Those without AC, chronically, mentally ill are most at risk
Montreal health officials are blaming the heavy heat and humidity for at least six deaths in recent days.
Dr. Mylene Drouin told a news conference the deaths have been investigated and are linked directly to the heat wave.
Drouin says the victims fit the profile of people authorities describe as at risk: those with chronic illness or mentalhealth problems, people who live alone and people without air conditioning at home.
She says there has also been a rise in the number of calls to ambulance services in recent days and that the city wants to avoid what happened in 2010, when intense heat claimed 106 lives.
More than 15,000 homes and businesses in Quebec were still without power and air conditioning Tuesday afternoon following violent storms. Temperatures were in the low 30s.
As of 2 p.m., 15,234 HydroQuebec customers were blacked out, mainly due to fallen trees and branches on power lines.
About 8,000 of the outages were in the Laurentian region north of Montreal and in the Lanaudiere area northeast of the city.
Hydro- Quebec said nearly 163,000 customers were without power at the peak of the outages Monday night.
The utility said some people will not have power back before the end of the day Wednesday.
The oppressive weather has enveloped much of Central and Eastern Canada since the Canada Day long weekend.
Environment Canada says humidex readings were to be in the 40 C range Wednesday from southwestern and northeastern Ontario through southern Quebec and into the Atlantic region.
The weather agency says a “very warm and humid air mass” has settled over the Maritimes and above normal temperatures and humid conditions will stick around into Thursday. Maritime temperatures are expected to return to seasonal normals for the weekend.
A hot and humid air mass is also entrenched over southern Quebec.
Tuesday’s highs were in the low 30s with a humidex reading between 35 and 40 C, continuing through Thursday.
Southern Quebec was rocked by violent storms on Monday, leaving thousands of homes and businesses without electricity or air conditioning.
Most of the outages were in the Outaouais region.