By Brendan O’Brien and Ismail Shakil
(Reuters) – Millions of Americans in southeastern Texas endured brutally hot conditions on Tuesday without relief from air conditioning after deadly Tropical Storm Beryl knocked out power to much of the region.
Scorching heat also affected much of the western United States and Canada, increasing the risk of wildfires.
About 2 million Texas homes and businesses were without power, according to Poweroutage.us, as temperatures reached more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C) by midday Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
“Without power across much of Southeast Texas following Beryl, the lack of air conditioning could create hazardous conditions,” the service said.
Tropical Storm Beryl slammed into Texas on Monday, flooding roads, damaging homes and downing power lines in its wake. Seven people were killed by the storm in Texas, including two people who were killed when they were hit by falling trees, the Houston Chronicle reported. Beryl killed 11 people in the Caribbean before reaching Texas.
The storm, downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday, weakened as it moved across the Midwest but still posed a risk for flash flooding and tornadoes through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
Raymond Miller, a 46-year-old Houston resident, has been without power since 6 a.m. Monday, leaving the food in his refrigerator inedible and his dog panting.
“I’ve had trouble sleeping and the humidity makes it very difficult to breathe in my apartment. Opening the windows last night did nothing, rather it made things worse,” said Miller, who works for a higher education institution.
Miller said she planned to sit with her dog in her air-conditioned vehicle, which had only a quarter tank of gas left.
“There is no gasoline available. Everyone has run out of gasoline,” he said.
In total, high temperature advisories had been issued for about 128 million people across the United States by Tuesday. Much of the West, from Seattle to California and Arizona, was expected to see record temperatures.
The national high temperature of 129 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) was recorded near Tecopa, California, in the Mojave Desert, the weather service said.
Las Vegas reached 117 F (47 C), Phoenix 116 F (47 C) and Tucson 111 F (44 C).
The heat wave has also caused temperatures to rise 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 British Columbia on the Pacific coast, the top oil-producing province of Alberta and Saskatchewan on the Canadian prairies.
As the heat wave moves eastward, temperatures will drop, but the accompanying pressure instability could lead to dry lightning, increasing the threat of wildfires, Castellan said.
“The secondary impacts, not only for humans but for the environment, namely concerns about wildfires, are accelerating,” Castellan said.
As of Tuesday, there were 59 wildfires burning in Alberta and 97 in British Columbia.
The town of Lytton in British Columbia, where 90% of structures burned in a wildfire in 2021, was the hottest place in Canada around 2:00 p.m. (21:00 GMT), at 39 °C (102 °F).