Summary of the day
Here is a quick recap of today’s developments:
The devastated city of Montpelier, Vermont, was beginning a major cleanup effort on Wednesday, two days after the Winooski River broke its banks when a summer’s worth of rain fell in a few hours and devastated the city.
Vermont residents were warned to stay vigilant and be aware of surroundings as more rain is expected and to avoid entering flood waters. “We are now living through the worst natural disaster impact in the state of Vermont since 1927 when dozens of people died at that time and thank god at this point, we have not seen fatalities and we all hope that will be the case,” said Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency across parts of Arkansas, with meteorologists warning a “life-threatening situation” was unfolding.
Temperatures in the US south-west are expected to climb higher in the coming days and could hit 130F in Death Valley, California. Excessive heat warnings were in effect across the desert south-west, including in cities such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Palm Springs, California.
Various counties in Texas have issued outdoor burn bans this week as the state continues to grapple with a record-breaking heatwave. Other counties that have issued similar outdoor burn bans include Burnet, Blanco and Llano counties.
Dangerous heat will be possible across the southern and western US next week, the National Weather Service has warned. Houston is at a moderate risk of excessive heat, while portions of New Mexico, Arizona and western Texas are at a high risk of excessive heat.
A severe marine heatwave off the coast of Florida has sent water temperatures soaring to unprecedented highs, threatening coral reefs in the area. Sea surface temperatures around Florida have reached the highest levels on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
California governor Gavin Newsom has launched a new campaign aimed at protecting residents from extreme heat. Ashley Williams, the press secretary with the governor’s office of planning and research, said that the new $20m campaign, Heat Ready CA, seeks to make sure Californians are aware of heat safety measures.
Wildfire season hasn’t even officially started in the US, but experts say Canadian wildfires sent so much smoke into US cities that this season already qualifies as the worst smoke season in recent memory.
A dozen homes were destroyed during a landslide in a gated southern California community that forced officials to declare a local state of emergency. The cause of Saturday’s slide is not known, but authorities have noted the exceptionally heavy rain that fell on California this past winter.
Updated
Electricity use in Texas jumped to an all-time high again amid soaring temperatures, but sunny days and strong winds are fueling both solar and wind power, helping to keep the state’s grid from collapsing.
Power demand rose to about 81.4GW at 4.55pm local time on Wednesday, surpassing the 27 June record of about 81GW, according to Bloomberg News.
The fragile electric power grid in Texas, which collapsed in a February 2021 winter storm, is being tested again as the second-biggest US state faces temperatures above 100F.
As consumers run their air conditioning all at once, it puts stress on the grid, risking potentially deadly outages.
