A severe heat wave hits the United States…and at least 13 deaths

At least 13 people died due to a heat wave that hit the United States two weeks ago, which was also affected by the deterioration of air quality due to Wildfires in neighboring Canadalocal authorities said Friday.

A severe heat wave hits the southern United States, especially Texas and Louisiana, accompanied by temperatures that often exceed 40 degrees Celsius, a rate that experts do not rule out that climate warming is one of its causes.

“Ten residents of our county have died from the heat,” a spokesman for Webb County, Texas, told AFP on Friday, adding that an additional person who lived in a nearby area “but was taken to one of our hospitals also died.”

Last week, a teenager passed out and then died during an expedition in Big Bend Nature Park from a temperature of 48 degrees Celsius, according to local authorities.

In the midst of the heat wave, a 62-year-old woman was also found dead in Louisiana, in an area where a storm left thousands of families without electricity and therefore without air conditioning. The state health department said her death was heat related.

In Mexico, 104 people died between June 12 and 25 due to a severe heat wave that hit the country’s desert north and the capital, the government announced.

And in the far north of the continent, Canada was still facing massive wildfires Friday that led to unprecedented air pollution in major cities in Quebec and Ontario.

The smoke from the Canadian wildfires continued its path south, into the Midwest and the American East Coast, where about 120 million people currently suffer from air pollution, according to local authorities.

On Friday, air quality in cities like New York and Philadelphia was deemed unhealthy, according to the government platform Airnow, which rates the country’s air quality.