Data on the Maricopa County website in Arizona showed that local authorities are investigating 53 suspected deaths caused by a heat wave over the past week.
During that period, temperatures hit record highs across the southwestern United States, threatening to disrupt power grids.
Data on the Maricopa County website showed a jump in the number of deaths being investigated, with the cities of Portland and Salem in Oregon, and Seattle in Washington, recording a new record high in temperature, on Monday, due to a heat wave in the northwest regions bordering the Pacific Ocean.
Local authorities are investigating 73 total deaths during the week ending June 19, compared to 20 deaths at the end of the previous week.
It was reported that three deaths related to the heat wave had been confirmed in the province of more than 4.5 million people, as of June 19.
The Arizona Daily Star quoted four climatologists as saying that human-caused climate change was the cause of the heat wave, which came after years of drought.
Source: Reuters