Canada continued to battle the worst forest fire season in its history, a phenomenon that scientists say is exacerbated by human-induced climate change.
As smoke drifted south, large parts
of the United States that are home to more than 120 million people, from the
Midwest to the East Coast, remained under air quality alerts.
About thirteen people have died from the extreme heat wave that has been tormenting the southern United States for two weeks, officials said Friday, with air in other parts of the country polluted by forest fires in Canada.
The highest death toll, 11 people,
was registered in Webb County, Texas, near the Mexican border. “As of
Wednesday, there has been 11 total deaths,” local officials said in a statement
to AFP. “Ten are Webb County residents, the eleventh death was from a neighbouring
county that was brought to a local hospital and unfortunately passed away. “A
14-year-old died last week when he was hiking in Big Bend National Park in
Texas, where temperatures reached 119 Fahrenheit (48 Celsius). Tragically, the victim’s
stepfather died in a car accident as he was rushing to the boy’s rescue.
And a 62-year-old woman died in the neighbouring state of Louisiana last week, after a storm left thousands of families without power and thus without air conditioning, according to local officials.
In recent days, temperatures in some southern US cities have felt like 113 degrees Fahrenheit, with the pavement cracking in Houston, Texas and authorities setting up cooling centers in the city of with 2.3 million.
In New York and Philadelphia, the air was considered unhealthy, according to the government platform AirNow.
Air quality alerts were also issued
in the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as for much of the North American
Great Lakes and parts of Minnesota, North Carolina and Georgia.
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