With summer just beginning, millions of Americans are under extreme heat alerts, with temperatures often topping 40°C. The episode affects in particular Texas and Louisiana, but also part of New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and northern Florida.
In Miami, high temperatures, we know, reports our correspondent David Thomson. But, for Xavier Cortada, environmental activist, today is different, because the heat peaks are more and more recurrent and dangerous.
« When I was 28, there were only thirteen days of heat wave alert per year, he remembers. Today, thirty years later, there are fifty days of alert per year. I hope I can live to be 88, but if I am, I better watch out because a quarter of the year will be placed on heat wave danger alert in Miami. »
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Vendor selling fresh fruit and cold coconuts, Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in Houston. AP – David J. Phillip
A frequent radical denial
But many Americans still struggle to accept the reality of global warming, a denial fueled by Republican politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, including, as Adam Roberti, director of the Cortada Foundation, explains: It’s scary how widespread this radical denial is. People are repeating what they hear on FOX News that climate change is just a communist hoax, simply because they don’t want to hear about regulations that would help fight climate change.. »
And yet, Florida is at the forefront of climate change, with another threat, that of rising sea levels which could turn Miami into a vast unlivable swamp within fifty years.
These extreme temperatures have already been going on for days and are expected to continue through the weekend. The small Texas town of Del Rio, on the border with Mexico, broke its heat record for eight consecutive days, reaching around 43°C on Sunday, according to local weather services.
At the end of last week, in the south of the state, Big Bend National Park announced the death of two people who went hiking when it was 48°C. A 14-year-old lost consciousness and died, along with his father, in a car accident as he left to seek help.
(and with AFP)
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2023-06-29 06:34:26
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