COOLING DOWN: A woman seeks shelter in a place where she can cool off in the million-strong city of Vancouver. Foto: JENNIFER GAUTHIER / X07099
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A powerful heat wave is ravaging parts of Canada. Death rates are rising.
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“I have been a police officer for 15 years, and I have never experienced a similar number of sudden deaths in such a short time,” police officer Steve Addison told Vancouver Sun.
Emergency calls are made about unexpected deaths in the homes of people in British Columbia. Within 24 hours Monday, Vancouver police responded to 31 such calls. Police officer Addison says that many of the phones come after people have visited the homes of their parents or relatives, to find them dead.
Also read: Heat record in Canada two days in a row
By early Tuesday afternoon, Vancouver police had been present and recorded 20 sudden deaths, and the numbers are expected to rise every hour. Police usually respond to three or four such unexpected deaths, writes the Vancouver Sun.
More than 100 sudden deaths have been registered since the heat wave started, writes the public broadcaster CBC. The heat wave is expected to continue in the next few days.
—-LAMBED BY THE HEAT: The city of Vancouver is experiencing record heat after the heat wave that started on Friday. Foto: JENNIFER GAUTHIER / X07099
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– Our police officers have a lot to do, but we do everything in our power to ensure that the inhabitants are safe, Addison says.
There is such a great need for police officers who can provide immediate assistance that investigators are transferred to departments that work with emergency assistance. Police officers who are at home or on holiday must also assist in the precarious situation.
Due to the sheer number of telephones, the dead remain at home awaiting police, ambulances and firefighters, who are always on site when unexpected deaths are called into the city of millions.
Funeral agents also have much more to do than usual. According to the CBC, 130 deaths are reported as usual during a four-day period in British Columbia. Between Friday and Monday, 233 deaths were reported.
In the town of Lytton, about three hours drive northeast of Vancouver, a new national heat record was set on both Sunday and Monday with 46.6 and 47.5 degrees, respectively.
In the state of Alberta, the authorities have declared a state of crisis due to high power consumption. Residents are encouraged to use as little electricity as possible between 4pm and 7pm in the afternoon.
The US states of Oregon and Washington are also experiencing the record high.
More than 1,1,000 people have been sent to hospital due to the heat in recent days, writes BuzzFeed.
The airport in the city of Portland registered 46 degrees on Monday, which is a new record.
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