Heat wave in Oregon claims at least 14 lives

Thursday, August 4, 2022

In addition to the deaths caused due to last week’s excessive heat wave, Oregon authorities are linking four more casualties bringing the tally to 14.

It is suspected that these deaths are also caused due to hyperthermia as were the previous ones.

The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said on Monday that the cause of these deaths demand further investigation.

Seven more deaths were recorded by the Multnomah County, which is home to Portland. This is so far the highest number of casualties recorded on the Oregon County.

According to the statement by a news agency, Portland recorded above 95 degrees Fahrenheit temperature on Sunday. It is for the seventh day in a row that the places recorded temperature above that mark.

Further northward, in Seattle, the temperature shot up to 91 Degrees Fahrenheit in the early afternoon. For consecutively six days in a row the place recorded the temperature above the 980 degree Fahrenheit mark.

As temperature escalated to nearly three digits almost throughout the last week across the Portland area, official were prompted to open emergency shelters and cooling kiosks.

The National Weather Service issues an excessive warning for Seattle and Portland regions since Sunday last. On Monday as the wind started blowing from the Pacific, temperature started receding in the heat affected areas.

According to the climate experts, climate change is fueling longer heat waves on the Pacific Northwest. It is a region which seldom experiences weeklong heat spells.

The locals and officials of the Northwest region are trying to adjust with its present climatic condition.

Last summer the region experienced a deadly weather phenomenon called ‘heat dome’ which prompted record temperature and deaths.

The heat wave which hit the Northwest region in late June and early July in 2021, claimed about 800 lives across British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. Portland experienced an all-time high temperature of about 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

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