Story at a glance
- Maricopa County officials are looking into more than 50 deaths as heat related.
- This follows temperatures in Phoenix hitting highs of 118 degrees.
- In 2020, the county had more than 300 heat-related fatalities.
One county in Arizona is grappling with an investigation of 53 deaths that could be related to the record-breaking heat wave encompassing the state.
Officials in Maricopa County are looking at the possibility that these 53 fatalities, which occurred during the week of June 12-19, were due to the scalding temperatures reported across the state.
AZ Central reported that the heat wave — a phenomenon resulting from a high-pressure system that is trapping heat across the Western U.S., causing historically hot temperatures — gave way to temperatures up to 118 degrees.
In addition to the 53 recent deaths, another 20 were reported earlier in 2021. This marks 73 total deaths being investigated as heat related.
This isn’t the first time Maricopa County felt the toll of intense heat. Some 323 total fatalities related to high temperatures were reported in 2020, a county record.
Other states and cities, including Portland, Ore., and parts of Utah, California and New Mexico are coping with the deadly temperatures that appeared this weekend.
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