NEW YORK – The largest heat wave of the summer has stagnated over large regions of the U.S. Thursday, bringing sizzling temperatures and little hope of relief without rain.
Most states in the U.S. had at least one region where the temperature hit 32 C Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, though the worst heat was in the Midwest to Northeast. Humid air just made it all feel worse, with heat indexes in some places over 38 C.
It was hot enough to buckle highway pavement in several states. Firefighters in Indianapolis evacuated 300 people from a senior living community after a power outage knocked out the air conditioning. The state of Illinois opened cooling centres. The Environmental Protection Agency said the heat was contributing to air pollution in New England.
Officials are blaming hot weather for at least one death. A 78-year-old Alzheimer’s patient died of heat exhaustion after wandering away from his northern Kentucky home Tuesday.
In New York City, where it was 36 C, sidewalk food vendor Ahmad Qayumi said that by 11 a.m., the cramped space inside his steel-walled cart got so hot that he had to turn off his grill and coffee machine.
“It was just too hot. I couldn’t breathe,” he said, turning away a customer who asked for a hamburger. “Just cold drinks,” he said.
Amid the heat, officials in Washington D.C.’s Maryland suburbs worked to keep a failing water main from cutting off hundreds of thousands of people, just when they needed it most. People in Prince George’s County were asked not to run their faucets, water their lawns or flush toilets to keep the water system from emptying during emergency repairs.
Firefighters in southern California faced brutally hot — but dangerously dry — conditions as they battled a wildfire outside Palm Springs that had already consumed seven homes.
New Mexico and parts of Texas turned out to be rare outposts of cool air Wednesday — but not without trouble of their own: heavy rains prompted flood watches and warnings in some areas. More than five inches of rain fell in 24 hours in Plainview, north of Lubbock, according to the National Weather Service.
–Associated Press writer Verena Dobnik contributed to this report.
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