A brutal heat wave hitting Texas this week has the Lone Star State competing with parts of the Middle East and Africa for the hottest places in the world.
Several Texas cities have hit or surpassed 110 degrees Fahrenheit — temperatures not uncommon in Kuwait City, Baghdad or Djibouti, according to weather reports.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said power topped more than 80,000 megawatts (MW) Tuesday evening, topping the grid’s previous record from July 20, 2022. More records were anticipated to be broken this week as more people use electricity.
The heat stretching across Texas and Louisiana has already been blamed for at least 13 deaths, stretching government warnings of dangerous, triple-digit temperatures eastward into Mississippi and Tennessee.
SEVERE WEATHER BRINGS MIDWEST, OHIO VALLEY STORM THREATS AS MORE WILDFIRE SMOKE SPREADS TO NORTHEAST
Mid-week temperatures were forecast to surpass 100 degrees in much of the Southeast, and high humidity was expected to push heat index values above 115 degrees in some areas.
Among the heat's casualties was a man who died late Sunday in Shreveport, Louisiana, the second heat-related death in the state in an unusually warm June. The 49-year-old from neighboring Bossier City had been found lying on a sidewalk in Shreveport, where Sunday's temperature hit 97 degrees — 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the average for the date.
The death of a 62-year-old woman on June 21 in Keithville also was blamed on the heat. Relatives found her after she had spent several days without electricity because of earlier severe storms, the Caddo Parish Coroner's Office said.
Eleven of the Texas heat-related deaths occurred in Webb County, which includes Laredo. The dead ranged in age from 60 to 80 years old and many had underlying health conditions, according to Webb County Medical Examiner Dr. Corinne Stern, who said the level of heat in the county was unprecedented.
"The vast majority do not have air conditioning in their homes. They either have the fans off, or they have fans on but not proper ventilation," Stern said. "There has been at least one or two that have air conditioning but don't want to run it due to the bill."
Two Florida hikers also died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park.
The heat has prompted the U.S. Postal Service to allow earlier starting times for letter carriers, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers Lone Star Branch. This comes after the death of a Texas letter carrier who died June 20 in near triple-digit heat. The cause of the carrier's death was still under investigation Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
