As intense, record heat seizes the US Pacific Northwest, American President Joe Biden was meeting with governors from the country’s western states already anxious over the prospect of another summer of unquenchable wildfires, drought and massive power failures.
Biden along with vice-president Kamala Harris and other top administration officials were discussing preparations for wildfire emergencies and electrical failures, according to officials. Talks included marshalling technology, including satellite systems, apps and social media to detect blazes as early as possible and sending information rapidly to people in affected areas.
The Democratic governors of California, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington and Nevada have been invited as have the Republican governors of Utah and Wyoming. The governors will participate virtually.
Across the border in Canada, scores of deaths in the Vancouver area were said to be possibly linked to the heatwave, authorities said, as the country recorded its highest ever temperature of 49.5 degrees Celsius in Lytton, British Columbia, amid scorching conditions that spanned the entire US Pacific northwest. At least 134 people have died since Friday in the Vancouver area.
“Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly, dozens of people are dying because of it,” police sergeant Steve Addison said.
A historic drought is gripping the US’ northwest. Nearly 98% of land across 11 western states is abnormally dry, and over 90% is covered by drought. Reservoirs are at near-historic lows. Shrinking rivers are sparking conflicts over water rights.
Millions of acres of forest and scrub land are so parched that officials are predicting a grim cavalcade of wildfires.
Biden said on Tuesday that the northwest heat shows why better power networks are needed as the climate crisis induces more frequent and extreme weather events.
“We need to make investments to build a more resilient grid,” Biden said in Wisconsin, citing an unusual winter storm in Texas that caused that state’s power grid to nearly collapse.
Since 2015, the country has had, on average, about 100 more large wildfires every year than the year before, and this wildfire season is already outpacing last season, officials said.
Heat waves have been smothering the region since even before summer officially began. The latest one has turned normally cool and cloudy regions in Washington and Oregon into saunas, with Portland and Seattle bearing the brunt.
