US heat wave sets records in central, northeast states

As about 80 million people from Indiana to New England sweltered under a heat advisory or excessive heat warning, New York Governor Kathy Hochul activated the state's Emergency Operations Center in response to high temperatures expected to last until the weekend.

"This is a deadly event," she said on Tuesday, one day after the city of Syracuse hit 34C, topping a record from 1994.

"We have seen blizzards, we have seen flooding, we had hurricanes, we had tornadoes. But this heat event is most likely to cause more deaths."

New York state will open its beaches and public pools early, in time for people to enjoy them over the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday. Under its heat emergency plan, New York City is opening its cooling centres for the first time this year.

Chicago registered 36C at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Monday, which broke a record of35C set in 1957. Temperatures hovered around 33C on Tuesday, with the heat index, which factors in temperature and humidity to measure how hot it feels, touching 35C.

Teams of city workers scattered across Chicago to homeless camps, trying to coax people to escape the heat in shelters.

Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as cities in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine are also due for record temperatures in the coming days, NWS meteorologist Marc Chenard said.

Out west, firefighters battled high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds as they sought to contain a wildfire that started Saturday northwest of Los Angeles and has burned 4800 hectares. The blaze forced about 1200 people to evacuate the Hungry Valley outdoor recreation area.

In southern New Mexico, wildfires burned to the north and south of Ruidoso village, forcing the community of about 8000 people to evacuate, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Australian Associated Press