Seven people are dead as a result of last week’s record-breaking heat wave that gripped the Washington area. Officials said Thursday that four people died in the District from heat-related causes last week, two died in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County and one person was killed by the heat in Northern Virginia.
The heat was a factor in the deaths of 11 people in Maryland last week — and in 21 deaths in the state so far this year. Every victim has had underlying health conditions, according to Karen Black of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
An independent investigation is under way to determine whether the victims knew about the health conditions that made them vulnerable to the high heat, Black said.
One person died in Northern Virginia on July 21, when temperatures broke 100 degrees. Virginia officials would not release the victim’s age or pre-existing conditions.
This past month was the hottest month in Washington’s recorded history, with an average temperature recorded at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport of 85.4 degrees over the 31-day span.
On July 22, the heat index, a combined measure of temperature and humidity, spiked to a sweltering 121 degrees. The District issued its first “excessive heat warning” in 10 years. Days of high humidity and heat followed, causing a dangerous cumulative effect.
D.C. Department of Health spokeswoman Mahlori Isaacs said the city’s response to the heat, extending pool hours and encouraging locals to seek shelter in air-conditioned libraries, was successful in preventing deaths.
“It was a number of agencies coming together,” Isaacs said. “A lot of people were responsive.”
July’s heat wave brought the total number of heat-related deaths this year to 21 in Maryland, eight in Virginia and four in D.C. Last week’s deaths were the first heat-related fatalities this year in the District.
Last year, heat was a factor in six deaths in the District, and Maryland and Virginia reported 32 and 14 heat-related deaths, respectively.
