An abnormal heatwave has gripped the Pacific Northwest and is responsible for two deaths in Washington and hundreds of visits to the emergency room during record-high temperatures in a region that typically only sees rain or overcast weather.
The hazardous weather that gave Seattle and Portland back-to-back days of record-breaking high temperatures in excess of 100 degrees was expected to drop in those cities. But inland Spokane saw temperatures rise even higher.
The Seattle Times reported two women, a 65-year-old from Seattle and a 68-year-old from Enumclaw, both died of hyperthermia, meaning both bodies had become dangerously overheated, citing the King County Medical Examiner’s office.
The heat may have claimed the life of a worker on a nursery in Oregon, the state’s worker safety agency, known as Oregon OSHA. A 4-year-old boy also drowned Monday, the newspaper said.
Heat-related illness accounted for about 10% of all King County emergency room visits Monday. In total, 357 county residents visited emergency rooms for heat-related issues during the three heat wave.
On Monday, 223 visits to emergency departments were made and emergency workers responded to 165 heat-related calls.
Officials in Bremerton, Washington, said the extreme temperatures may have contributed to four deaths in that Puget Sound city. But Bremerton’s medical officer said that they cannot say for sure if the heat was the official cause of death.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures reached 109 degrees in Spokane — the highest temperature ever recorded there.
