By Brendan O’Brien and Ismail Shakil
(Reuters) -Millions of Americans in southeastern Texas endured brutally hot conditions without the aid of air conditioning on Tuesday after deadly Tropical Storm Beryl knocked out power across much of the region.
The scorching heat also burned much of the western US and Canada, increasing the risk of wildfires.
About 2 million homes and businesses in Texas were without electricity, according to Poweroutage.us, as temperatures topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit around noon Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
“Without power across much of Southeast Texas in the wake of Beryl, no air conditioning could have created hazardous conditions,” the agency said.
Tropical Storm Beryl barreled into Texas on Monday, flooding highways, damaging homes and downing power lines in its path. Seven people died in the storm in Texas, including two people killed by fallen trees, the Houston Chronicle reported. Beryl killed eleven people in the Caribbean before reaching Texas.
The storm, which was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday, weakened as it moved through the Midwest but still posed a risk of flash flooding and tornadoes through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
Houston resident Raymond Miller, 46, has been without power since 6 a.m. Monday, leaving food inedible in his refrigerator and his dog panting.
“I was having trouble sleeping and the humidity makes it very difficult to breathe in my apartment. Opening the windows last night didn’t help anything, it just made it worse,” said Miller, who works for a higher education institution.
Miller said he planned to sit with his dog in his air-conditioned vehicle, which had only a quarter tank of gas left.
“There’s no gas available. Everyone’s out of gas,” he said.
In total, about 128 million people in the US were under heat advisory on Tuesday. Most of the West — from Seattle to California to Arizona — was expected to see record high temperatures.
The national high of 129°F (54°C) was recorded near Tecopa, California, in the Mojave Desert, the weather service said.
Las Vegas reached 117°F (47°C), Phoenix reached 116°F (47°C) and Tucson 111°F (44°C).
The heat wave has also caused temperatures to soar across much of western Canada, increasing the risk of wildfires, said Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
The federal weather agency issued heat warnings Tuesday for parts of the Pacific coast province of British Columbia, the main oil-producing province of Alberta and Saskatchewan in the Canadian Prairies.
As the heat wave moves east, temperatures will drop, but the associated pressure instability could cause dry lightning, increasing the threat of wildfires, Castellan said.
“The secondary impacts – not only on humans but also on the environment – namely wildfire concerns are increasing,” Castellan said.
There were 59 wildfires in Alberta and 97 in British Columbia on Tuesday.
The village of Lytton in British Columbia, where 90% of buildings burned in a wildfire in 2021, was the hottest place in Canada at 39 C (102 F) at around 2 p.m. (2100 GMT).
