MONTREAL, July 10 — A heatwave in Quebec in eastern Canada has now been blamed for 70 deaths, officials said yesterday.

Thirty-four of the fatalities were recorded in Montreal, the provincial health ministry told AFP.

The heatwave has hit eastern Canada since early July but only Quebec has recorded a rise in deaths linked to the scorching temperatures.

In 2010 around 100 people in the Montreal area died because of stifling heat. — AFP </s> TORONTO: Deaths linked to a heat wave in Canada´s Quebec province has nearly doubled to 33 from the last count, health officials said on Thursday, as extreme weather conditions that have gripped central and eastern Canada reached their peak.

Canada´s weather department added smog warnings for certain areas of the province on Thursday, when the heat wave is forecast to end.

Eighteen of the victims were in Montreal, while the rest died in areas across southern Quebec, the officials said.

The people who died were living out of bounds and often vulnerable due to conditions such as substance abuse, chronic ailments and mental illnesses, they added.

Montreal previously raised the city´s response level to "intervention" from "alert" after a spike in heat-related calls to the government´s health information line and for ambulances.

Heat warnings were also issued for much of Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. </s> A woman cools down in a water fountain as she beats the heat in Montreal, Monday, July 2, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

The sweltering heat and suffocating humidity that have blanketed Eastern and Central Canada have contributed to the deaths of at least 17 people in Quebec over the last few days, health officials said Wednesday.

And with the muggy temperatures expected to persist for at least another two days, authorities are urging people to remain vigilant.

Montreal health officials said there have been 12 heat-related deaths since the weekend, while authorities in the Eastern Townships region east of Montreal are attributing another five deaths to the weather.

RELATED: Heat wave blamed for at least six deaths this week in Canada

Authorities were also investigating a possible 18th heat-related death in the Mauricie region between Montreal and Quebec. The person had complained of the heat and breathing difficulties and died after paramedics had arrived.

Medical officials said, however, that it was unclear whether the person had an underlying health issue that was the main cause of death.

Dr. Melissa Genereux, head of public health in the Eastern Townships, told a news conference the victims are all adults — either seniors or people suffering from chronic illness. The deaths were not concentrated in any specific municipality.

“There are still two days left of particularly hot weather with particularly high humidex levels,” Genereux said. “We’re inviting the population to be vigilant for the next two days — for themselves as well as those close to them.”

Officials across the province advised people to drink plenty of water and check in on neighbours or relatives and, if need be, get them to a place where air conditioning is available.

Environment Canada says a heat warning remains in effect for an area spanning southwestern and northeastern Ontario through southern Quebec and into the Atlantic region, with above normal temperatures and humid conditions likely to stick around into Thursday.

Dr. David Kaiser, physician-manager at Montreal’s public health authority, said officials aren’t surprised by the number of deaths in the metropolis.

“We would prefer having no deaths related to heat but with four days of intense heat and especially hot nights, we expect to see an impact on people’s health,” Kaiser said.

He said the Montreal heat exposure victims were between 50 and 80.

“None of the people we’ve identified in the last four days had air conditioning at home,” Kaiser noted.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted condolences to the relatives of the Quebec victims.

No deaths have been reported in other provinces. In Ontario, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office said it couldn’t confirm if there were any heat-related deaths, adding it could take weeks or several months to complete such probes.

Kaiser said one reason Quebec has been reporting so many deaths is because it’s part of the province’s extreme heat plan, where health officials work in tandem with first responders and emergency rooms to track down potential cases of heat-related illnesses and deaths.

“We go out to the paramedics, we go out to the hospitals and we ask them to make sure to identify any deaths they believe are related to heat and that allows us to intervene more quickly,” Kaiser said.

He cited a case in recent days in which a death in a home for the elderly led authorities to move five other people deemed at risk to a facility equipped with air conditioning.

Police and firefighters also continued to go door to door in areas identified as having people considered at high risk: those with chronic illness or mental-health problems, those who live alone and people without air conditioning at home.

Also on Wednesday, the ambulance service that serves a large swath of the Montreal area called on people to refrain from calling unless it is a real emergency.

Urgences-sante said it has been inundated by the volume of calls — 1,200 calls per day in Montreal and nearby Laval over the past four days, which is 30 per cent more than usual on busy days.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> TORONTO (Reuters) - Deaths linked to a heat wave in Canada’s Quebec province has nearly doubled to 33 from the last count, health officials said on Thursday, as extreme weather conditions that have gripped central and eastern Canada reached their peak.

Canada’s weather department added smog warnings for certain areas of the province on Thursday, when the heat wave is forecast to end.

Eighteen of the victims were in Montreal, while the rest died in areas across southern Quebec, the officials said. The people who died were living out of bounds and often vulnerable due to conditions such as substance abuse, chronic ailments and mental illnesses, they added.

Montreal previously raised the city’s response level to “intervention” from “alert” after a spike in heat-related calls to the government’s health information line and for ambulances.

Heat warnings were also issued for much of Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. </s> The heat wave that has enveloped much of Central and Eastern Canada has contributed to at least 33 deaths in Quebec.

“We’re doing the best that we can do,” Quebec’s Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois said at a press conference Thursday. “You know, we’re living something special. In French we say, ‘C'est une situation exceptionnelle.’”

With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, Environment Canada heat warnings have been in effect for large swathes of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia for much of the past week. The extreme heat is expected to finally abate this evening.

According Dr. Mylene Drouin, regional director of Montreal's public health department, those who died were predominantly men aged 53 to 85 who lived alone and without air conditioning.

“First they have heat stroke, but most of the people who die, they are vulnerable,” Drouin told CTV Montreal. “Or (they have) problems with drugs, or they are intoxicated. So first, they’re dehydrated.”

Those living in poorer areas with less vegetation have been suffering the most during the heat wave, Drouin added during a press conference.

“In the centre of the city where we have more hot spots, where there is less greener areas, we know that compared to what is measured at the meteorological station, we can have a difference of five to 10 degrees,” she explained.

This is not the first time that Quebec has experienced such deadly heat, with more than 100 people dying during another heat wave in 2010.

“I’m not pleased about that,” Charlebois said of her province’s current crisis. “I would not like my mother to die because it’s too hot today.”

To deal with the heat wave, Urgences-sante, Montreal’s emergency medical service, has placed nine additional ambulances on the roads to respond to a 30 per cent spike in calls. At the ongoing Montreal International Jazz Festival, which runs until July 7, the number of on-scene paramedics has been doubled.

Firefighters, meanwhile, have been going door-to-door to check on at-risk people. Such people, Drouin explained, are those with “chronic diseases, mental health issues, people who live alone, (and) people without air conditioning who live in apartments of more than four or six stories.”

Public health officials are also encouraging Montrealers to check on their neighbours, especially if they are elderly.

"I'm satisfied with the work that has been done to help those who are most vulnerable," Drouin said.

Although none of the reported heat-related deaths have occurred at hospitals or long-term care homes, families of patients at facilities like the Sacre-Cœur Hosptal in Montreal are decrying “inhumane” conditions that are seeing their loved ones swelter in rooms that lack air conditioning.

"They're suffering and they're going to be suffering more if there's no air conditioning," Effie Tsatoumas, whose mother is being treated for pneumonia, told CTV Montreal.

According to Tsatoumas, her family was barred by security from bringing a portable air conditioner into her mother’s room.

"I don't understand, for elderly people to have no air conditioning in the state they're in," she said. "I'm healthy and I had a hard time breathing in there."

After suffering from dehydration and going into cardiac arrest, Tsatoumas said her mother was finally moved into the hospital’s intensive care unit -- one of the few parts of the facility that has air conditioning.

"All of our electrical panels are fully loaded, so we have only the essentials for patient care,” Frederic Cossette, the hospital’s director of technical services, said of the aging hospital building. "We're not able to upgrade it now and have enough power to have A/C in all our rooms."

For the remainder of the heat wave, Drouin is advising that patients without air conditioning be taken out of their rooms at least twice a day for two hours.

"There are places that have air conditioning in each hospital and we ask them to give them water and towels (dunked in) cold water,” she said.

The past week has seen some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Montreal, said Environment Canada meteorologist Alexandre Parent.

“Having a span of seven days with maximum of above 31 Celsius for Montreal area, I mean this is pretty exceptional,” Parent told CTV Montreal. “Usually these kinds of heat waves, they last for three, four, five days.”

Overnight thunderstorms are expected to finally cool the region down. And although temperatures are forecasted to rise again next week, the weather will likely be much more tolerable.

“There won't be humidity in the air as we have experienced,” Parent explained. “So the humidex index is not going to be a factor.”

Despite experiencing similarly scorching temperatures, other provinces in Central and Eastern Canada have not reported heat-related fatalities, though The Canadian Press suggests that that may be due varying jurisdictional practices in gathering such data.

With a report from CTV Montreal’s Kelly Greig and files from The Canadian Press </s> July 5 (UPI) -- More than 30 people have died as a result of a heat wave in the Canadian province of Quebec, officials said Thursday.

The heat-related death toll increased to 34 as temperatures rose as high as 95 F and Environment Canada issued a smog and heat warning for the province, the CBC reported.

Montreal's health department reported 18 deaths, seven were reported in the Eastern Townships, six were reported in the Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec region, Montérégie's public health department reported two and one more was reported in Laval.

The heat wave began last Friday and the death toll has increased every day this week.

Most of the victims were between 50 to 80 years old and Montreal public health official Mylene Drouin said most of those who died in Montreal were older than 65, had no air conditioning and had prior health issues.

Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois said none of the deaths in Quebec took place in public health institutions.

"We have to remain vigilant and continue to take precautions to avoid health problems," said Charlebois.

Officials urged residents to keep themselves hydrated and remain in the shade, while Montreal opened pools and air conditioned spaces to the public.

"We're doing everything we can," Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said.

Plante also said first responders have been going door-to-door to check on about 15,000 vulnerable residents and encouraged people to check on their neighbors as well.

"'Im counting on Montrealers to knock on doors, maybe of a neighbor, just to find out if the person is OK. It's a team effort," Plante said.

Environment Canada said the heat is supposed to give way on Friday with highs dropping to 75 F. </s> CTVNews.ca Staff





Six people died in Montreal over the Canada Day long weekend as an intense heat wave gripped large parts of the country.

Montreal’s extreme temperatures, which peaked at around 35 degrees Celsius on Monday afternoon, were linked to each of the deaths.

Public Health officials said most of the six victims lived alone and were diagnosed with chronic diseases or mental health problems. None of the victims had air conditioning, and they all lived in apartment buildings.

Not included in those numbers was the death of a six-year-old boy who drowned in an apartment pool on Monday. Witnesses say the small pool was at capacity at the time, and there was one lifeguard on duty.

The spate of deaths may seem high, but Dr. Mylene Drouin, Montreal’s regional director of Public Health, says it could have been much deadlier.

“Usually in a normal situation we have 10 deaths per day, so we're not in an excess of mortality,” Drouin said.

Regardless, the City of Montreal has rolled out emergency measures. Firefighters are knocking on doors in neighbourhoods with less greenery where temperatures can rise up to five degrees higher than the forecast high.

Fire crews are expected to knock on about 5,000 doors during the heat wave, and they will offer residents a cooler place to stay.

Montreal’s emergency medical service says it has received an influx of 300 more calls than usual. The agency said it is struggling to meet the demand of people who require transportation to hospital.

According to records, 106 people have died in Montreal due to heat since 2010.

Heat across Canada

Outside Quebec, sweltering heat was felt in four other provinces.

In Toronto and Ottawa, temperatures have remained well above 30 C since Friday. Humidex values this week were expected to reach as high as 43 C in southern Ontario, and Environment Canada issued a heat warning for the densely populated region.

A cooldown isn’t expected until Friday, when a cold front finally passes through.

Heat warnings were also in place for New Brunswick, P.E.I and Nova Scotia, where similarly intense conditions could push the humidex close to 40 on Thursday. Inland communities are hit harder than those along the coast.

The Atlantic heat wave is also expected to break by the weekend.

With files from CTV Montreal </s> TORONTO — Ontario's chief coroner says three recent deaths in the province may have been related to heat, compared to dozens already reported in Quebec.

Dr. Dirk Huyer told reporters on Tuesday that the three deaths were reported over the last four days.

Quebec health authorities have said that up to 70 people died from heat-related complications in a recent heat wave, including 34 in Montreal alone.

Huyer says the numbers are so different in part because Ontario performs autopsies before declaring a cause of death, and it can take months for those results to come in. </s> A spokeswoman for Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois confirmed the number of persons who died from the heat, the Canadian Press reported. Local officials cautioned the hot weather will persist over the weekend and beyond despite the authorities lifting the heat warning.

People who were affected by the high temperatures had suffered from chronic illnesses and many of them lived alone, the report cited medical specialists as saying.

Canada’s environmental agency said Thursday the majority of deaths happened Montreal, but other areas affected by the heat wave include Chateauguay/La Prairie, Laval, Longueuil and Varennes, CBC reported. Quebec is experiencing the worst heat wave it has seen in decades and the risk of more deaths remains high.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday offered condolences to those bereaved. He warned that record temperatures were expected to continue. Canada’s emergency service reportedly said earlier it had received over 1,000 of calls a day since the heat began, an uptick of 30 percent from its busiest days.
A heat wave throughout Eastern Canada kills six people in Montreal.