Governor: Heat death toll at least 95 in Oregon alone

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Pacific Northwest heat wave has killed at least 95 people in Oregon alone, a number that state’s governor called “absolutely unacceptable.”

“Following events like this we always do reviews and see what we can do better next time,” Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said Sunday on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Hundreds are believed to have died from the heat over the past week in the U.S. Northwest and southwestern Canada.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown says the record-breaking Pacific Northwest heatwave “is a harbinger of things to come. We literally have had four emergency declarations in this state at the federal level since April of 2020.” pic.twitter.com/haMwSclhVF

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 4, 2021

Records included 116 degrees in Portland and 108 in Seattle. The hot weather was headed east, with temperatures well above 100 forecast Sunday for parts of Idaho and eastern Montana.

Government officials warned people about the heat, dispersed water to vulnerable people and set up cooling stations, Brown said.

“We still lost too many lives,” Brown said.

Scientists consider the heat wave an ultra-rare event that’s nonetheless consistent with the effects of human-caused climate change.