Death Toll From Eastern Heat and Storms Hits 91

The one-two punch of smothering heat and violent storms gripping the eastern half of the country took another deadly turn Saturday as the weather’s toll rose to at least 91.

In Chicago, at least 54 people whose bodies had been brought to the Cook County medical examiner’s office had died of heat-related causes. Widespread power outages overnight stilled fans and air conditioners in the 90-degree-plus weather.

“We’re calling this a weather-related disaster,” said Mike Boehmer, an assistant administrator for the medical examiner, on Saturday. “This is something we’ve never seen before.”

While a breath of slightly cooler air floated across the upper Midwest and into the Northeast, it touched off severe thunderstorms from the Plains through New England. Falling trees killed five people in New York state and lightning may have killed a Massachusetts woman.

One New York woman was killed when a white pine snapped in the wind and toppled onto her family’s fold-out camper.

The heat was directly involved in five deaths in Milwaukee and may have contributed to 10 more, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Jeffrey Jentzen said Saturday. The city had said Friday, when the high was 102, that heat was suspected in seven deaths. Other deaths earlier in the past week included 11 in Missouri, six in Chicago, two each in Kentucky and Iowa, and one each in Texas, Nebraska and Indiana.

Combined with high humidity and pollution, the heat created a deadly mix that sparked health warnings and air quality advisories throughout the East and mid-Atlantic states.

“This is something you may not see again for 10 or 15 years,” said Greg Goodrich, a forecaster for Accu-Weather Inc. of State College, Pa. “It’s just baking out there.”

In Chicago, officials said most of the victims had suffered from heart problems, and heat stress contributed to the deaths.

“We’re not accustomed to handling this type of disaster,” Boehmer said. “With temperatures reaching 99 degrees today, that’s not far off from yesterday’s weather, and I would suspect that this could continue.”

In Philadelphia, where Saturday was the hottest day in 29 years with a high of 103, officials blamed two deaths on the heat, including that of one man found in his car.

Officials also cited the heat for a two-hour rampage at the Philadelphia city jail late Friday that caused dozens of minor injuries to guards and inmates. “It’s hot. It’s crowded. Any little thing could set them off,” said corrections officer William Turner.

The 300 inmates remained under lock-down Saturday, when temperatures were expected to hit 104.

Ahead of the easing temperatures, records fell: It hit 105 in Danbury, Conn.; 101 in Norfolk, Va.; 100 in Atlanta; 104 in Manchester, N.H., and 102 in New York City’s Central Park, where trees and grass offer some relief from the blistering urban canyons of concrete, brick and asphalt.