In an attempt to keep the death toll from California's 12-day heat wave from rising, aid workers there have been going door-to-door, checking in on elderly people.
The number of deaths possibly connected to the heat wave climbed to 98, California coroners' offices said on Thursday.
In Fresno County's morgue, the walk-in freezer was stuffed with bodies, with some piled on top of others, said Coroner Loralee Cervantes. With limited air conditioning, employees worked in sweltering heat as they investigated at least 22 possible heat-related deaths.
PHOTO: AP
"It's never been like this in my years here," Cervantes said. "This is really tragic."
The mercury dropped slightly in some areas, with Sacramento dipping below 38?C for the first time in 12 days, but Fresno hit 41?C and Bakersfield reached 42?C.
Temperatures in most parts of the state were expected to drop below 38?C this weekend, said Kathy Hoxsie, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
In Stanislaus County, officials were investigating whether sizzling temperatures were responsible for the deaths of 20 people. Salvation Army workers walked door-to-door there to check on elderly and other vulnerable residents.
Kern County was investigating eight deaths that were possibly related to the heat wave, including two Bakersfield brothers that were found dead in their beds in a home without air conditioning.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that California was making 75 cooling centers available to residents at fairgrounds statewide. Health officials also were contacting nursing homes to make sure they had evacuation plans in place in case their air conditioning failed, he said.
State Senator Dean Florez called on Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency in California's Central Valley, noting that residents were dying each day.
"Record-breaking heat requires a record-breaking response," Florez said. "The conditions, staying this hot for this long, are simply too much for the most vulnerable residents."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese