Northwest scorcher claims dozens of lives
Officials blame triple-digit heat for sudden deaths
The grim toll of the historic heat wave that scorched the Pacific Northwest became more apparent Wednesday as authorities in Canada, Washington state and Oregon said they were investigating dozens of deaths likely caused by temperatures that soared well above 100 degrees.
In Vancouver, British Columbia, police said they had responded to more than 65 sudden deaths since the heat wave began Friday. Authorities in Washington and Oregon were investigating about a dozen deaths.
“Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly dozens of people are dying because of it,” Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement.
The heat wave was caused by what meteorologists described as a dome of high pressure over the Northwest and worsened by human-caused climate change, which is making such extreme weather events more likely and more intense. Seattle, Portland and many other cities shattered all-time heat records, with temperatures in some places reaching above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Amid the dangerous heat and drought that are gripping the American West, crews were closely monitoring wildfires that can explode in the intense weather.
While the temperatures had cooled considerably in western Washington, Oregon and British Columbia by Wednesday, the interior regions were still sweating through tripledigit temperatures as the weather system moved east.
The government’s Environment Canada agency issued heat warnings
Wednesday for southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Heat warnings also were in place for parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
In Alberta, “a prolonged, dangerous, and historic heat wave will persist through this
week,” Environment Canada said in a release.
The very high temperatures or humidity conditions also were expected to pose an elevated risk of heatstroke or heat exhaustion.
British Columbia’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said her office would normally
receive about 130 death reports over a fourday period. At least 233 deaths were reported from Friday to Monday afternoon, she said, adding that coroners are determining whether the record-breaking heat played a role. Like Seattle, many homes in Vancouver don’t have air conditioning.
The King County medical examiner’s office, which covers an area that includes Seattle, said two people died of hyperthermia, meaning their bodies had became dangerously overheated.
In neighboring Snohomish County, three men — ages 51, 75 and 77 — died after experiencing heatstroke in their homes, the medical examiner’s office told the Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., on Tuesday.
Officials in Bremerton, Wash., said heat may have contributed to four deaths in that Puget Sound city.
The death of a worker at an Oregon plant nursery last weekend was heat related, employee safety agency Oregon OSHA said Tuesday.
The man was from Guatemala and had arrived in the United States only a few months ago, said Andres Pablo Lucas, owner of Brother Farm Labor Contractor that sent the man and other workers to the nursery.