Paramedics respond to a heat exposure call in Salem, Oregon.Photo: Nathan Howard/AP/Shutterstock
More than 100 people in Oregonhave died as a result of the record-breaking heat wavethat has blanketed the Pacific Northwest in recent weeks.
The Oregon Medical Examiner’s Office reported the death toll at 116 people as of Wednesday from 10 different counties statewide,The Oregonianreported.
In Multnomah County, the most populated, five deaths were reported on Wednesday alone, bringing the county’s total to 72 victims.
The number is steadily growing; last week, the medical examiner’s office reported at least 63 deaths statewide, a number that jumped to 94 on Friday and 107 on Tuesday, according toThe Oregonian.
The intense heat has shattered records in the area; temperatures on June 28 hit a record-high 116 degrees — the third day in a row that the record was broken, theNational Weather Servicesaid.
The heat wave reportedly began when a ridge of high pressure moved over the Pacific Northwest, forcing air down, compressing it and warming it before it became trapped in place in what is known as a “heat dome.”
People rest at a cooling station in Portland.KATHRYN ELSESSER/AFP via Getty
In apress releaseon Tuesday, Multnomah County officials called the incident a “mass casualty event.”
“On June 28 alone, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner Program responded to four times the typical number of deaths, and did so in person in 116º F degree heat,” the release said.
The suspected cause of death for victims in the county is hyperthermia, though as of Tuesday, only 40 of the 67 deaths have been formally ruled to be from hyperthermia, which is a very high body temperature.
The county said that it would look at state and federal interventions moving forward, and has already begun participating in statewide rule-making for the state Department of Environmental Quality’s climate protection plan.
source: people.com
