(ABC / AFP) Hundreds Dead As Record-Breaking Heat Wave Hits Canada And United States

ABC News - AFP

Canada is reporting record-breaking temperatures thanks to a high-pressure ridge trapping warm air in the region. (Reuters: Jennifer Gauthier)

Key Points Record highs of 49.5C are attributed to climate change  233 deaths have been reported between Friday and Monday in British Columbia Schools and COVID-19 vaccination centres have been forced to close

Scores of deaths in Canada's Vancouver area and large wildfires are likely linked to a gruelling heat wave, authorities said Tuesday, as the country recorded its highest-ever temperature amid scorching conditions that extended to the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

At least 134 people have died suddenly since Friday in the Vancouver area, according to figures released by the region's city police department and the Royal Canadian Mounted police.

The Vancouver Police Department alone said it had responded to more than 65 sudden deaths since Friday, with the vast majority "related to the heat."

The chief coroner for the province of British Columbia, which includes Vancouver, said that it had "experienced a significant increase in deaths reported where it is suspected that extreme heat has been contributory."

The service said in a statement it recorded 233 deaths in the wider British Columbia area between Friday and Monday, compared with 130 on average.

The deaths came as Canada set a new all-time high temperature record for a third day in a row Tuesday, reaching 49.5 degrees Celsius in Lytton, British Columbia, about 250 kilometres east of Vancouver, the country's weather service, Environment Canada, reported.

Canada's freaky heatwave

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Canada's freaky heatwave

The heatwave gripping Canada and the US heads into uncharted territory as temperatures reach 20 degrees above average. Read more

"Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly dozens of people are dying because of it," police sergeant Steve Addison said.

Climate change is causing record-setting temperatures to become more frequent.

Globally, the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years have all occurred within the last five years.

The scorching heat stretching from the US state of Oregon to Canada's Arctic territories has been blamed on a high-pressure ridge trapping warm air in the region.

Temperatures in the US Pacific Northwest cities of Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington reached levels not seen since record-keeping began in the 1940s.

Homes are being evacuated due to wildfires

Smoke billows during the Sparks Lake wildfire at Thompson-Nicola Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. (Supplied: BC Wildfire Service)

The extreme heat, combined with intense drought, also created the perfect conditions for several fires to break out.

Evacuation orders were issued in British Columbia's Thompson-Nicola region amid wildfires spanning 750 hectares.

Another wildfire at McKay Creek region spanned 3,700 hectares. 

The British Columbia Wildfire Service tweeted images and attributed the fire to the hot, dry weather.

UPDATE: The #BCWildfire Service continues suppression efforts on the Sparks Lake wildfire (K21001). Due to the hot and dry weather, increased fire behavior is being seen on site and the fire is now estimated to be 750 hectares in size. pic.twitter.com/lbh4dRnyZW

— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) June 30, 2021

Another blaze on the California-Oregon border burned some 600 hectares by Monday morning.

'Hottest week ever'

"We are in the midst of the hottest week British Columbians have ever experienced, and there are consequences to that, disastrous consequences for families and for communities," British Columbia Premier John Horgan told a news conference.

The heat wave has forced schools and COVID-19 vaccination centres to close in the Vancouver area, while officials set up temporary water fountains and misting stations on street corners.

Stores quickly sold out of portable air-conditioners and fans, so several people without cooling at home told AFP they hunkered down in their air-conditioned cars or underground parking garages at night.

Cities across the western United States and Canada opened emergency cooling centres and outreach workers handed out bottles of water and hats.

The Salvation Army has been handing out bottled water. (Reuters: Karen Ducey)

In Oregon, organisers were forced to adjust the final day of the US Olympic track and field trials, moving afternoon events to the evening.

"Dubai would be cooler than what we're seeing now," David Phillips, a senior climatologist for Environment Canada, told AFP on Monday.

Links

• (ABC) US Cities Set Up 'Cooling Centres' As Historic Heatwave Bakes Pacific North-West 
• (USA NPR) The Drought In The Western U.S. Is Getting Bad. Climate Change Is Making It Worse
• Severe Drought, Worsened by Climate Change, Ravages the American West
• A very, very, very dry future for the U.S. West
• Drought stokes fears of severe fire season in West
• Drought Is the U.S. West’s Next Big Climate Disaster
• Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought
• Western U.S. may be entering its most severe drought in modern history
• Creeping toward Permanent Drought
• Megadrought emerging in western U.S. could be the worst in 1,200 years, study finds
• ‘Megadrought’ persists in western U.S., as another extremely dry year develops
• The megadrought parching 77 percent of the Western US, explained