DEATH VALLEY, California, July 16 (Reuters)
- An extreme heatwave peaked in the western United States on Sunday, with temperatures reaching 128 Fahrenheit (53 Celsius) in the California desert, while flash flooding continued to menace the Northeast, killing at least five people.
Nearly a quarter of the U.S. population
fell under extreme heat advisories, partly due to a stubborn heat dome that has been parked over western states. While baking parts of the country, the heat dome has also helped generate heavy rains in the Northeast, a pattern expected to continue for days if not weeks, according to the National Weather Service.
In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia,
downpours and flash flooding over the weekend killed at least five people. Nearly 7 inches (17 cm) of rain fell on the area in 45 minutes late Saturday, Upper Makefield Township Fire Chief Tim Brewer told a press conference, claiming five lives as vehicles were swept away. Two children, one aged 2 and the other 9 months, remained missing.
"We continue to look for the two children," Brewer said. "We are not going to give up regardless. The weather is a factor but at this point we are going to continue the operations and have already set things in motion for tomorrow as well."
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday
urged residents in her state to avoid travel until the rain passes, saying that "your car can go from a place of safety to a place of death" if swept up in a flash flood.
The rains were expected to
ease on Monday but nonetheless created havoc throughout much of the Northeast in recent days, with Vermont in particular reporting catastrophic flooding in its capital Montpelier.
The heat warnings spread from the Pacific Northwest, down through California, through the Southwest and into the Deep South and Florida.
Death Valley, California, officially reached 128 F
(53 C) on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service, although the famed temperature display sign outside the Furnace Creek Visitors Center showed 133 F (56 C).