Blitz Bureau
HOSPITALS in the Houston area are filling up after Hurricane Beryl left more than a million people in the city without electricity during a deadly heat wave, as per BBC reports.
The city’s football stadium has been converted into a “transitional facility” when hospitals reach capacity, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said.
Patients stuck
“[Hospitals] can’t discharge patients because patients can’t go home if they don’t have power,” Patrick said at a press conference.
Tens of millions of people were under a heat advisory on July 12, as searing temperatures scorch the US from California to Texas. In Texas, a heat advisory has been issued in dozens of cities.
The threat is amplified in the Houston area, where temperatures are expected to reach 105F (40 C), and where residents are still recovering from the hurricane. More than two million were without power as powerful winds uprooted trees and stripped powerlines.
Around 1.3 million people in the state still lack electricity.
More than 100 cooling centres in the Houston area have been launched to help residents. There are also reports of long rows of cars idling in lines at filling stations waiting to refuel – becoming the last resort for those without indoor air conditioning. Patrick called it a miserable situation. “It’s pitch black at night and hot as Hades in the day,” he said, adding that people have also lost access to food that would normally be kept cool in a fridge.
Other parts of the US are also grappling with an ongoing heat wave that is expected to last through the weekend, including in typically milder climates like Oregon. Heat advisories have been issued for nine states, including Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Oregon.
Temperature may hit 49 C
In California, officials warned of “dangerously hot conditions” forecasting temperatures up to 120F (49 C) in places like Palm Springs. A man in Sacramento died in hospital after being brought from his non-air conditioned home, on a day when it was 106F (41C).
