Record heat runs through Northeast
FOX Weather’s Katie Byrne reports on the record hot weather in the Northeast and how some schools are dismissing kids early due to lack of AC on ‘Your World.’
- At least 112 people have died in Mexico this year due to extreme heat, according to a report released by the country’s health authorities.
- Within a single week in June, Mexico documented a record of 69 heat-related deaths nationwide.
- Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed that the deaths were untrue and that the report was part of a campaign against his administration.
Mexican health authorities say there have been at least 112 heat-related deaths so far this year, acknowledging the deadliness of a recent heat wave that the president previously said was being overblown by alarmist journalists.
The report, released late Wednesday, also shows a significant spike in heat-related fatalities in the last two weeks. So far this year, the overall heat-related deaths are almost triple the figures in 2022.
The Health Department normally issues a report on heat-related fatalities each week, but in June — at the height of the heat wave — it skipped a week, for reasons that remain unclear.
TEXAS’ RECORD-BREAKING HEAT AMONG HOTTEST IN THE WORLD, BLAMED FOR MORE THAN A DOZEN DEATHS
The deaths reached a peak in the week of June 18-24, with 69 deaths in one week nationwide, an unprecedented number. Temperatures in some parts of Mexico have risen to over 105 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks.
The week of June 11-17 was also unusually bad, with 31 deaths across the country.
A person shades himself on a hot, sunny day in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City on June 13, 2023. This year’s heat-related deaths have nearly tripled last year’s figures. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
So far this year, the largest number of deaths from heatstroke and dehydration have occurred in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon, home to the industrial hub of Monterrey.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed last week that mounting reports of heat deaths were untrue, and were part of a media campaign against his administration.
TEXAS’ HEAT DOME EXPECTED TO EXPAND TO KANSAS CITY, OKLAHOMA, FLORIDA
“There is an alarmist, yellow-journalism trend,” López Obrador said, citing lower death figures that were already outdated at that time.
The high number of heat-related deaths appeared to be due in part not only to high temperatures, but to a delay in the onset of seasonal rains that normally come to Mexico in mid-June and tend to cool things off a bit.
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The Health Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the delay in its delay in reporting the fatalities.
Nor was it clear why the president thought the deaths were a political issue, possibly because several media outlets reported claims that some of the deaths were caused by electricity shutoffs at some of the victims’ homes.
López Obrador is a staunch defender of the state-owned power utility.
