No Letup As Heatwave Continues
Aug. 9 -- The nation baked in another day of smothering heat and humidityas residents from the Midwest to Northeast anxiously anticipated abreak from record-breaking temperatures.
"It's just too hot to do anything," said Robert Koval, apolice officer in Newark, N.J., where the temperature soaredWednesday to 101 degrees and eclipsed a record of 97 set in 1983.
The blistering temperatures and heavy humidity combined to pushheat indexes to 100 degrees and higher Wednesday in many parts ofthe country, including in Wrightstown, N.J., where the index was116 before noon.
"Hot. Muggy. Icky. Sticky," said Brandy Kallenbach, a teacherat the University of Wisconsin-Superior Child Care Center, wherechildren were kept inside.
Even northern California baked. The mercury reached 107 in RedBluff, nearly 200 miles north of San Francisco. Cooler temperatureswere expected in the Midwest and East by Friday.
The hot weather has been blamed in the deaths of several peoplethis week, including a man in a locked car in Oak Park, Mich., aroofer in Madison County, Ky., and a man and woman in their 70s inthe Philadelphia area.
In Wisconsin, health officials believe the heat has played arole in 10 deaths in the past three weeks. Missouri has had 22heat-related deaths so far this year.
About 10 fans of teen pop star Aaron Carter were hospitalizedafter being overcome by extreme heat during an outdoor concert inWilmington, Del. Emergency workers treated an additional 55 people,and the nearly 4,500 fans were hosed down by concert workers duringthe show because of the heat.
In parts of the northern Plains, a cold front brought somerelief from the heat Wednesday, but it packed powerfulthunderstorms that snapped trees and power lines and hurled grainbins across highways.
Grand Forks, N.D., declared a state of emergency following astorm that carried 101 mph wind gusts, dumped 1.61 inches of rainin about half an hour and left about 11,000 XCel Energy customerswithout electricity this morning.
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