A heat wave is hitting the southern United States hard, especially Texas and Louisiana, with “dangerous” temperatures that are expected to last several more days and in which experts point to the role of global warming.
With summer just beginning, millions of Americans are under extreme heat alerts, with temperatures often topping 40°C.
The episode also affects part of New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and northern Florida.
Global warming is responsible for the multiplication and intensification of heat waves in the world, scientists have been hammering for years.
“This heat wave is more intense, more widespread, and probably also longer” than it would have been without the impact of human activities, Andrew Pershing, vice-president in charge of science, told AFP. for the NGO Climate Central.
Preliminary analysis by this organization determined that current temperatures were made at least five times more likely by climate change.
In New Orleans, Louisiana, a heat alert was issued from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time.
In Houston, the fourth largest city in the country with 2.3 million inhabitants, refreshment centers have been opened so that fragile people can take refuge there.
Roads were damaged due to the heat, and workers were busy Tuesday to repair them.
“We can’t keep up,” one of them, Victor Hugo Martinez, 57, told Houston. “There are too many, we have 10 or 12 places like that” currently, he told AFP.
He and his colleagues are careful to stay hydrated and take regular breaks, he explained.
“Some places in Texas have temperatures that have been above 37°C for more than two weeks, which is very unusual for this time of year, even in an area used to heat,” said Andrew Pershing.
“What particularly worries us is that because it started so early, people’s physiology had not yet adapted,” added the scientist, noting that the first heat waves of the year are usually the more deadly.
“Drink plenty of water, stay in rooms with air conditioning, shade, and check on your family and neighbors,” the US Weather Services (NWS) said, calling the conditions “dangerously hot.”
They also advised wearing light clothing and rescheduling strenuous activities at the start or end of the day. “Anyone suffering from heat should be moved to a cool, shaded place. Sunstroke is an emergency!” they added.
These extreme temperatures have already lasted for days but are gradually spreading eastward, and are expected to last until the weekend.
The small Texas town of Del Rio, on the border with Mexico, broke its heat record for eight consecutive days, reaching around 43°C on Sunday, according to local weather services.
At the end of last week, in the south of the State, the Big Bend national park announced the death of two people who went hiking when it was 48°C. A 14-year-old lost consciousness and died, along with his father, in a car accident while he was on his way to get help.
Animals also suffer: twelve cats and a dog were found dead in an abandoned apartment, according to the Houston Humane Society.
The agency in charge of managing most of the electricity grid in Texas, Ercot, warned that the demand for energy was higher due to the heat, but said it expected to be able to cope.
“Air conditioning can literally save lives,” Kristina Dahl of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) told AFP. “But if we don’t run this air conditioning with renewable energy, we contribute to releasing more emissions into the atmosphere, which will further increase the heat”.
This is a real “challenge”, she said, especially since few people on the planet are equipped with air conditioning today, but its use should “skyrocket in the coming decades. “.
According to her, the current heat wave in the south of the country is emblematic: “it is exactly what to expect in a warming world.”
27/06/2023 22:33:27 – Houston (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP