Woodland Hills breaks L.A. county record with 119-degree heat
Friday, July 28, 2006; Posted: 4:06 p.m. EDT (20:06 GMT)
FRESNO, California (AP) -- The death toll from California's record-breaking heat wave reached 132 on Friday, the first day in nearly two weeks that temperatures were expected to stay below 100 degrees across most of the state.
The big jump in the death count came primarily from Los Angeles County and the Central Valley counties of Merced and Stanislaus, where coroners struggled to keep up.
"This is unprecedented for the county," said Stanislaus County Office of Emergency Services spokesman David Jones. The county, home to Modesto, typically sees one heat-related death a year, he said. On Friday, it reported 29.
The vast majority of deaths believed linked to the heat wave were elderly people, whose bodies don't cope as well in the heat. But there have been younger victims as well: A 38-year-old gardener collapsed on the job and died last week; on Wednesday, two brothers, ages 57 and 68, were found dead in a home without air conditioning.
The entire state has been sizzling in triple-digit temperatures since July 16. Only Friday were the heat advisories finally lifted, as meteorologists said the heat wave appeared to be nearing its end.
In the Fresno County morgue, the walk-in freezer was stuffed with bodies, with some piled on top of others, said Coroner Loralee Cervantes. With limited air conditioning, employees worked in sweltering heat as they investigated at least 22 possible heat-related deaths.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/28/heatwave.ap/index.html
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