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California Heat Wave Toll Could Top 70
Los Angeles (AFP) July 26, 2006 More than 70 people may have died in California's record-breaking heat wave, a state official said Wednesday as temperatures appeared to ebb. A spokeswoman of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services said officials were working to confirm that the recent deaths of 71 people were due to the record-breaking heat. "These are deaths that are believed to be due to the heat or related to the heat wave," Tina Walker told AFP. "However, until toxicology records and autopsies are performed, it won't be certain that that was the cause," she said. Most of the dead, counted since July 14, were elderly people living in the hot central valley between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The deaths included three illegal immigrants whose bodies were found on the US-Mexico border in southern California, apparently dead from dehydration. However, the Mexican consulate on the border and border patrol officials have reported finding four bodies of people likely killed by the intense heat. The wave of hot weather appeared to be easing Wednesday, with California power company officials expecting to return to a normal situation after heavy air conditioner usage raised electricity consumption to record levels at the beginning of the week, forcing service cutbacks. Still, thermometers in the California capital Sacramento in the central valley reached 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) Wednesday, the eleventh day in a row topping 38 degrees C (100 degrees F). In Los Angeles temperatures hit 38 degrees C (100 degrees F), after soaring in one area, Woodland Hills, to 48 degrees C (119 degrees F) on Monday. But tens of thousands of power company customers remained without power from San Francisco to Los Angeles due to failures of aged transmission equipment under the heavy demand load. Power company officials have asked neighboring states to lend them personnel to help get services restored. California has avoided the blackouts that consumers and businesses suffered in 2001, when a power shortage crisis helped lead to the recall of then-governor Gray Davis and his replacement by Hollywood star-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. Weather services were forecasting lower temperatures through the end of the week, and no electricity alerts were issued Wednesday. Meanwhile east of San Diego, 1,400 fire fighters continued to battle a forest blaze that started on Sunday and has been stoked by high temperatures and strong winds. Another fire Tuesday burned a 10 hectare (25 acre) swathe of hillside in a wealthy area near Beverly Hills, home to many movie stars. One home was damaged.
Source: Agence France-Presse Related Links Learn about Climate Science at TerraDaily.com 
Heatwave increases flood risk in the Netherlands
Waddinxveen, The Netherlands (AFP) Jul 27, 2006 The Netherlands is experiencing a twist on the heatwave across Europe, as the drought actually increases the danger of floods with dried-out peat dikes at risk of bursting. |
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