Deaths surge in US and Canada from worst heatwave

A heatwave that smashed all-time high temperature records in western Canada and the Northwest U.S. has left hundreds dead in its wake. In British Columbia, at least 486 sudden deaths were reported over five days, nearly three times the usual number that would occur in the province over that period. The heat dome, a weather phenomenon trapping heat and blocking other weather systems from moving in, weakened as it moved east, but was still intense enough to set records from Alberta to Manitoba, said a senior climatologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, a government agency.
The state of Oregon reported 63 deaths linked to the heatwave. Multnomah County, which includes Portland, reported 45 deaths since Friday, with the county Medical Examiner citing hyperthermia as the preliminary cause. Oregon had only 12 deaths from hyperthermia from 2017 to 2019. Across the state, hospitals reported a surge of hundreds of cases in recent days due to heat-related illness, the Oregon Health Authority said.Oregon Governor Kate Brown declared a state of emergency due to "imminent threat of wildfires" while the US National Weather Service in Portland issued a red-flag warning for parts of the state, saying wind conditions could spread fire quickly.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paused to remember the dead during remarks in Ottawa on Wednesday and expressed concern over the fire threat. "We've been seeing more and more of this type of extreme weather event in the past years," Trudeau said. "So realistically, we know that this heatwave won't be the last." In Washington, US President Joe Biden said climate change was driving "a dangerous confluence of extreme heat and prolonged drought," warning that the United States was behind in preparing for what could be a record number of forest fires this year.