MONTREAL: The death toll in a week-long eastern Canadian heat wave has reached 54, officials said on Friday. Most of the victims linked to the “overwhelming heat” were in the Montreal area, which recorded 28 fatalities, metropolitan health authorities told the Media.

The other victims were reported in the southwest of the French-Canadian province, the Quebec health ministry said. On Thursday, Environment Canada had forecast a maximum temperature of 35 C (95 F) but said the heat index would make it feel like 45 C. The mercury has since June 29 regularly topped 30 C, accompanied by stifling humidity levels, but temperatures should drop back to seasonal averages from Saturday.

“Looking at the weather forecast, we are waiting for a return to normal in the coming hours,” said Health Ministry spokeswoman Noemie Vanheuverzwijn. Most of the victims in Montreal were men in their 50s or older, and living in vulnerable conditions without air conditioning, regional public health director Mylene Drouin has said. Neighboring Ontario has also been coping with high temperatures but no deaths have been reported there.

A relevant piece published earlier:  A heat wave in Quebec has killed 33 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, officials said Thursday. Eighteen of the dead were reported in the provincial capital Montreal, according to regional public health director Mylene Drouin. She added that the majority of the victims in the city were men aged between 53 and 85 living in vulnerable conditions and without access to air conditioning. The rest of the deaths occurred in other parts of the French-speaking province. Environment Canada forecast a maximum of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday with a heat index (what the temperature feels like to the human body) of up to 45 Celsius. The heat wave is expected to end by Thursday evening with temperatures between 23 and 25 degrees Celsius over the next few days. (5th July 2018)