Ottawa: The unprecedented heatwave sweeping across parts of Canada has left dozens of people dead as temperatures have reached record levels, officials said on Wednesday.
Police in the Vancouver area said they have responded to more than 130 calls involving sudden deaths since Friday. Most of the deceased are elderly or people with underlying health conditions, with heat often a contributing factor, a BBC report said.
On Tuesday Lytton, British Columbia a new record was set as for a third straight day the place recorded 49.6C (121.3F) temperature.
Before Sunday, temperatures in Canada had never passed 45C.
Authorities warned that the number of heat-related fatalities is likely to rise as some areas in the coming days and have said that they have responded to sudden death incidents but have yet to collate the numbers.
In Vancouver alone, heat is believed to have been a contributing factor in the unexpected deaths of 65 people since Friday.
Experts have said that the intense heat over western parts of Canada and the US has been caused by a dome of static high-pressure hot air stretching from California to the Arctic territories. Temperatures have been easing in coastal areas but there is little immediate respite for inland regions.
Experts have further warned that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of such extreme weather events, but linking any single event to global warming is fraught with complications.
