Heat wave was state's deadliest

The number of deaths linked to California's record-breaking heat wave is up to 126, making the hot spell the state's deadliest in at least five decades, officials said Friday.

The latest figures from county medical examiners show 69 deaths that were definitely caused by the nearly two-week heat wave and 57 more that are presumed to have been the result of hot weather, said Roni Java, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Emergency Services.

"This is unprecedented," Java said. "We don't have any records of this kind of loss of life."


from the San Francisco Chronicle