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Heat wave bakes Texas amidst power outages while Canada braces for wildfires

Millions of Americans in southeast Texas withstood brutally hot conditions on Tuesday without the relief of cooling after deadly Tropical Storm Beryl knocked out power to a big part of the area.

Scorching heat also baked much of the Western U.S. and Canada, raising the danger of wildfires.

About 2 million Texas homes and services lacked electricity, according to Poweroutage.us, as temperatures were reaching above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C) at midday on Tuesday, the National Weather condition Service said.

Without power throughout much of Southeast Texas in the wake of Beryl, no air conditioning might make for unsafe conditions, the service stated.

Hurricane Beryl barreled into Texas on Monday, flooding highways, destructive homes and downing power lines in its path. Seven people were killed in the storm in Texas, consisting of 2 individuals who were eliminated by fallen trees, the Houston Chronicle reported. Beryl killed 11 individuals in the Caribbean before reaching Texas.

Downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday, the storm weakened as it moved through the Midwest but still postured a risk for flash flooding and tornadoes through Wednesday, the National Weather Service stated.

Houston resident Raymond Miller, 46, has been without power given that 6 a.m. on Monday, leaving the food in his refrigerator inedible and his pet dog panting.

I had difficulty sleeping and the humidity makes it extremely hard to inhale my home. Opening the windows last night didn't do anything, it kind of made it worse, said Miller, who works for a higher education institution.

Miller stated he prepared to sit with his pet in his air conditioned car, which had just a quarter tank of gas left.

There is no gas offered. Everybody runs out gas, he stated.

In all, some 128 million individuals throughout the U.S. were under heat advisories on Tuesday. Most of the West - from Seattle down through California and into Arizona - was anticipated to see record high temperatures.

The national high of 129 F (54 C) was tape-recorded near Tecopa, California, in the Mojave Desert, the weather service stated.

Las Vegas reached 117 F (47 C), Phoenix struck 116 F (47 C) and Tucson 111 F (44 C).

The heat wave has actually also sent temperature levels soaring throughout much of western Canada, increasing the danger of wildfires, stated Armel Castellan, a meteorologist at Environment Canada.

The federal weather company provided heat cautions on Tuesday for parts of the Pacific coast province of British Columbia, the primary oil-producing province of Alberta, and Saskatchewan in the Canadian meadows.

As the heat wave moves east, temperatures will drop but the accompanying pressure instability might set off dry lightning, raising the risk of wildfires, Castellan said.

The secondary effects - not simply to people but to the environment - specifically, the wildfire issues are speeding up, Castellan said.

There were 59 forest fires burning in Alberta and 97 in British Columbia since Tuesday.

The British Columbia town of Lytton, where 90% of structures burned down in a wildfire in 2021, was the most popular location in Canada at about 2 p.m.

(source: Reuters)