Two-Week Heat Wave Leaves 44 Dead
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An oppressive two-week heat wave in the Southeast and Midwest has killed at least 44 people, many who were elderly and living in homes without air-conditioning.
Authorities in Memphis reported 2 more heat-related deaths Saturday, bringing Tennessee’s total to 13. The latest victims were a 74-year-old man found dead Saturday after working in his yard and a 60-year-old man found dead in his home late Friday.
The high temperature in Memphis was 101 on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and Memphis had had nine straight days of triple-digit temperatures. Health officials in Alabama said Friday that eight people there had died of heat-related causes this week and last week.
In addition to the deaths in Tennessee and Alabama, nine have been confirmed in Missouri, four each in Arkansas and Georgia, three in Illinois, two in South Carolina, and one in Mississippi.
