A heatwave in Quebec has killed 33 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, officials said Thursday.
Eighteen of the dead were reported in the provincial capital Montreal, according to regional public health director Mylene Drouin.
She added that the majority of the victims in the city were men aged between 53 and 85 living in vulnerable conditions and without access to air conditioning.
Heatwave warnings have been issued in much of Ontario and Quebec this week. Conditions are expected to ease today. Source: AAP
The rest of the deaths occurred in other parts of the French-speaking province.
Montreal previously raised the city’s response level to “intervention” from “alert” after a spike in heat-related calls to the government’s health information line and for ambulances.
Environment Canada forecast a maximum of 35 degrees Celsius on Thursday with a heat index (what the temperature feels like to the human body) of up to 45 Celsius.
The heatwave is expected to end by Thursday evening with temperatures between 23 and 25 degrees Celsius over the next few days.
According to the National Centres for Environmental Information the average temperature for Montreal in July is a high of 26 degrees Celsius.
Canada’s weather department added smog warnings for certain areas of the province on Thursday, when the heat wave is forecast to end.
"My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who died in Quebec during this heat wave," tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "The record is expected to continue in central & eastern Canada, so make sure you know how to protect yourself & your family."
Heat warnings were also issued for much of Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
No deaths had been reported for the same period in the neighbouring province of Ontario, which has also sizzled under extremely high temperatures.
In 2010, a heatwave killed around 100 people in the Montreal area.
- With Reuters
