Jubilee Post News & Views
- Experts say climate change may bring extreme weather events
- US President said the heatwave was tied to climate change
Special Desk
While in Uttar Pradesh people are feeling the brunt of scorching heat dozens of people have died in Canada amid an unprecedented heatwave as temperature records went for a toss. Temperatures in Canada had never passed 45C.
Amazon allowed members of the public into areas of its Seattle headquarters as a cooling-off location, while people in Portland also flocked to cooling centres.
Police in Vancouver responded to over 130 sudden deaths in the past two-days. Most were elderly or had underlying health conditions, with heat often a contributing factor.
IN Canada temperature broke records for a third consecutive day – 49.6C (121.3F) in Lytton, British Columbia. The US north-west has also seen record highs – and a number of fatalities.
Experts say climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. However, linking any single event to global warming is complicated.
US President Joe Biden said the heatwave was tied to climate change in a speech as he pitched a plan to update the country’s infrastructure network.
The heat over western parts of Canada and the US has been caused by a dome of static high-pressure hot air stretching from California to the Arctic territories.
Temperatures have been easing in coastal areas but there is not much respite for inland regions. The number of heat-related fatalities is likely to rise as some areas say they have responded to sudden death incidents but have yet to collate the numbers.
In Vancouver alone, heat is believed to have been a contributing factor in the unexpected deaths of 65 people since Friday.
“I’ve been a police officer for 15 years and I’ve never experienced the volume of sudden deaths that have come in in such a short period of time,” police sergeant Steve Addison said. He said people were arriving at relatives’ homes and finding them deceased.
