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Heat deaths and outages
New Jersey officials attributed at least 19 deaths to the heat wave, saying the first apparent heat-related deaths began appearing as early as Thursday and that most occurred in the central and northern parts of the state.
“Diecinueve muertes en Nueva Jersey han sido atribuidas a la ola de calor”
New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington told reporters Saturday that “many of these people were found in viviendas sin aire acondicionado,” while Governor Mikie Sherrill called the weather “el tramo más caluroso que hemos visto en más de 14 años”.
The heat dome also gave way to severe storms that knocked out power to close to 1 million homes and businesses, with PowerOutage.com reporting about 900,000 customers without electricity early Sunday afternoon.
Temperatures set records during the heat, including LaGuardia Airport’s new high of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, which Bryan Jackson said topped the previous record of 38.3 C (101 F) set in 1966.
Jackson said heat domes can be dangerous because they combine very high temperatures with much humidity and that “Fue implacable. Fueron varios días,” as the region saw outages and storm damage to trees and utility lines.
Storm damage and warnings
Gothamist reported that a line of thunderstorms tore through New York and New Jersey Friday night, downing trees, knocking out power, and delivering wind gusts up to 71 miles per hour, with the region potentially seeing a repeat Saturday evening.
State officials told Gothamist that 19 people have died from suspected heat-related illnesses, while more than 140,000 residents were still without power Saturday and some NJ Transit lines would be down even into next week.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill said, “Unfortunately, we're not out of the woods yet,” adding, “We're gonna keep seeing high temperatures and potentially severe thunderstorms tonight and over the rest of the holiday weekend.”
Kris Kolluri, head of NJ Transit, said downed trees were the biggest culprit tying up train service and that “On the [Morris and Essex] line alone, we lost sixty trees, catenaries and signal systems.”
Gothamist also reported that by Saturday morning New York’s Downed Tree Taskforce was patrolling to clear debris, and that forecasts placed another round of damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall between 5 and 11 p.m. overlapping with fireworks set to begin at 9:25 p.m.
Public health response
As the heat and storms continued into the July 4 period, New Jersey officials said they were investigating deaths they believed were heat-related, with Dr. Raynard Washington telling reporters that the first cases began being recorded from Thursday.
“El comisionado del Departamento de Salud de Nueva Jersey, Dr. Raynard Washington”
The Diario Libre report said authorities made a call for residents to stay alert and check frequently on adults older, children, and people living alone or without adequate ventilation, described as the most vulnerable groups during extreme heat episodes.
Diario Libre also reported that in Central Park the temperature reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, tying the record for that date and marking the first time since 2012 that the park surpassed that figure.
In New York City, the report said the metro recorded temperatures between 95 and 99 degrees Fahrenheit in several stations and lines, with sensations térmicas superiores a los 100 grados.
Diario Libre added that the mayor Zohran Mamdani asked residents to adjust air conditioners to 78 degrees Fahrenheit and to reduce demand by turning off lights and disconnecting electronics not in use, while also noting that health authorities said they had not confirmed any deaths directly related to the current heat wave at that point.
