Heat wave 2012 continues to take its toll in the US

By NVONews.Com Correspondent,

Heat wave 2012 continues to wreak havoc in the United States with death toll almost touching 100 in the last fortnight. This included the two dozen people, who died in the June 29 violent storm, which swept across Mid-Atlantic to Mid-West.

It is not only the southern states, which are affected even the northern ones have witnessed record temperature.

On Saturday alone 46 people lost their lives as temperature crossed over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) in several major cities.

On Sunday, officially eight people died in Chicago in the north from heat-related causes. Ten died on previous day, that is, Saturday.

In South Carolina it touched 113F/45C and in Georgia 112F/44C. The US State Climate Extremes Committee said that it may possibly be all-time statewide temperature records.

It was 42 degrees C in St Louis, Missouri, last weekend. Washington DC has experienced an unprecedented series of extreme temperatures. On Saturday the heat reached 105F (41C), just short of the hottest ever recorded in the city.

Most of the victims are aged men and women. This included a 100-year-old woman. The ongoing power cut caused by June 29 storm has rendered air-conditioners useless. The elderly people got stuck in their homes and subsequently died of excessive heat.

Deaths have also been reported from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland, Ohio etc.

The power cut caused by violent storms has not yet been restored in several places. This is perhaps the longest duration of power cut for these places in the last many years. Reports suggest that thousands of people, including 74,000 in West Virginia, alone are still without electricity.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from early summer 2011 to early summer 2012, the United States experienced its warmest 12-month period since record-keeping began in 1895.

The National Weather Service said that the current extreme temperatures are affecting approximately 115 million––a third of the US population––citizens.

Over 90 percent humidity is causing further hardship to the people normally not used to such a condition.

Experts are of the view that global warming has its impact on United States, as never in the recent memory the country has been hit so strongly by the heat wave.

If the US is facing the hottest summer, Britain and Russia had excess of rain and flooding. In Russia more than 170 people died in recent flood forcing President Vladmir Putin to order high level probe into it.

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Posted by admin on July 10, 2012. Filed under Life & Style, world. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry