Killer heat wave bakes California

A heat wave swept southern California for a sixth day on September 2, claiming the lives of an elderly couple, setting record temperatures and leaving thousands of customers without power.

The mercury eclipsed the century mark throughout the area, sending millions of people to the beaches for relief on the Labor Day holiday. Weather forecasters called for the harsh conditions to continue, but a slight cooling at the end the week.

In downtown Los Angeles, the temperature reached 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 C), and set records along the coast in Long Beach (103 degrees/39 C) and 56 miles inland in Riverside (112 degrees/44 C).

In the suburb of Valley Village, 13 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, an unidentified couple in their 80s were found dead in their apartment on September 2. Fire officials said the temperature inside was more than 110 degrees (43 Celsius). They said the man was disabled, and his wife may have been unable to reach the air conditioning control.

During the heat wave, 396,893 of Southern California Edison's 4.7 million customers - 8.4 percent - lost power "from a few minutes to longer," the Edison International-owned utility said.

By September 3, 9,000 customers of the city-owned Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's 1.4 million customers were reportedly without power.

Related News

europe pollution

European responses to Covid-19 accelerate electricity system transition by a decade - Wartsila

LONDON - Coal based power generation has fallen by over a quarter (25.5%) across the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) in the first three months of 2020, compared to 2019, as a result of the response to Covid-19, with renewable energy reaching a 43% share, according to new analysis by the technology group Wärtsilä.

The impact is even more stark in the last month, with coal generation collapsing by almost one third (29%) between March 10 and April 10 compared to the same period in 2019, making up only 12% of total EU and UK generation. By contrast, renewables…

READ MORE
nick clark

Calgary electricity retailer urges government to scrap overhaul of power market

READ MORE

taiwan power outage

Taiwan's economic minister resigns over widespread power outage

READ MORE

texas snow storm

"It's freakishly cold": Deep freeze slams American energy sector

READ MORE

tunisia renewables

Tunisia invests in major wind farm as part of longterm renewable energy plan

READ MORE