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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Heat wave kills 17 in eastern Canada |
| 2018-07-05 |
| [PRESSTV] A heatwave in Quebec has killed at least 17 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, health officials said Wednesday. Twelve of the dead were reported in the eastern province's capital Montreal, said regional public health director Mylene Drouin. The Tribune newspaper said five of the deaths occurred in the past 48 hours in the Eastern Townships, a rural area just east of the city. "My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have died in Quebec during this heat wave," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter. "The record temperatures are expected to continue in central and eastern Canada, so make sure you know how to protect yourself and your family," Trudeau said. Drouin said the victims were part of "the very vulnerable population, the elderly or people suffering from chronic or mental illnesses." Temperatures soared to 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) with a humidity that made it feel closer to 40 degrees, the meteorological service said. The mercury has regularly topped 30 degrees since Friday in southern Quebec, accompanied by stifling humidity levels. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 Based on my experience with the elderly, many seem to have a profound lack of awareness that they are getting overheated. Without this awareness, they will then neglect to do the obvious, like get out of the sun, open a window, turn on a fan, seek a cooler environment, etc., even when they have all those opportunities ready at hand. I remember growing up back in the 50s also. People over the age of 70 were rare, compared to modern times. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2018-07-05 19:56 |
| #9 Yep, RJS, I was in Boston back then too. Of course there was always the Cape. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2018-07-05 16:37 |
| #8 Back in the mid 70s when I lived in Boston we saw a few terrible moves during a heat wave because the theater had AC. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2018-07-05 15:30 |
| #7 This is not a new thing, indeed. Back in 1974 or so, it got up to all the way to 82°F in Buffalo, New York for several days – – as I recall, three elderly people died. Nobody had air-conditioning in Buffalo then, because the normal summer daytime temperature in Buffalo was and is 78F. I can only imagine how many would have died had the temperature a tually gone up to 93F, though that is the perfectly acceptable current temperature here in Cincinnati. The fact of the matter is, when summer temperatures are significantly higher than normal -- however laughable cool someone from elsewhere might consider that temperature to be -- those who are not robust are more likely not to remember to do, or cannot afford to do, the things necessary to keep from overheating... and therefore die. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2018-07-05 14:48 |
| #6 About got down to 93 last night. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2018-07-05 10:06 |
| #5 111 degrees tomorrow here |
| Posted by: Frank G 2018-07-05 09:58 |
| #4 "...All the deaths struck those most vulnerable during heat waves: People with underlying conditions such as mental illness or heart and lung disease. All of the victims were in apartments without air conditioning, and most lived alone...." Why does Trudeau hate the mentally ill and elderly? Why does he equate mental illness with the elderly. I'm triggered. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2018-07-05 08:39 |
| #3 from the Globe report on this, "...All the deaths struck those most vulnerable during heat waves: People with underlying conditions such as mental illness or heart and lung disease. All of the victims were in apartments without air conditioning, and most lived alone...." This is similar to the great heat wave in Chicago back in 1995 in which most of the 700+ fatalities were elderly persons who not only didn't have a/c but also would not open their windows because they were afraid of crime. from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-death-toll-due-to-heat-wave-rises-in-quebec/ |
| Posted by: lord garth 2018-07-05 08:12 |
| #2 Why is it when people die in a heat wave in NA or Europe they speak French. How many of these were elderly |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2018-07-05 05:42 |
| #1 When I was a kid back in 1950 we lived 16 miles outside of Memphis , Tennessee, in Shelby County right on Highway 51 and this was before Air Conditioning and TV were common. You could buy an electric fan, they were made out of metal in those days and not out of plastic. It was a few years after the War and Korea was the thing then. A while back. And 93 was not considered a heatwave. 106*F was considered normal for Summer, hard to deal with, true, but it was Normal. Stay indoors drink some Lemonade and eat some watermelon. Life was just like that. Deal with it. Buy a plastic pool for the kids ( like we did ) and turn on the garden hose. And of course Canada is hardly Sudan. Trudeau sounds like a p8ssy. "Heat wave"..ha ha ha ahha ha ha. |
| Posted by: Lionel Spomotle6549 2018-07-05 05:37 |