Heat Kills 50 in Philadelphia; Toll May Rise

More than 50 people in Philadelphia died in last week’s heat wave, and more bodies, mostly of elderly people, are expected to be found, the assistant medical examiner said Wednesday.

Assistant Medical Examiner Halbert Fillinger said 10 bodies had been found in the 36 hours before midnight Tuesday. The temperature in the Philadelphia area was above 90 for eight consecutive days, from July 18 to July 25.

Two people died directly of heatstroke and a still undetermined number died of heat-related causes, Fillinger said.

On Sunday, Fillinger said, he saw at least 20 heat-related deaths, the largest number he had encountered in a 24-hour period.

The victims tended to be poor, elderly, living alone and suffering from pre-existing medical problems, Fillinger said.

‘Just Slip Away’

“These are not street people,” he said. “Usually, they’re older folks; they’re living in rooms on the second or third floor in houses that get too hot; the heat gets them down; they don’t eat much; they don’t feel like going out for food or juice, and they quickly get so weak that they just slip away. They don’t have people looking out for them.”

Meanwhile, temperatures soared again Wednesday from the Plains across the South as the heat wave that has been blamed for at least 69 deaths in 10 states hit its 12th day of readings in the 90s.

“It really looks about the same through Sunday,” said Jim Kaplan, a meteorologist in Denver.

Records indicate that one July in each decade in the last 50 years stands out, said George Matuella of the National Weather Service in Omaha, Neb.

“With the forecast for more hot weather, this is probably the July of the decade,” he said.