April 6, 2009
AFP
A once-in-a-century heatwave in the Australian state of Victoria in late January contributed to as many as 374 deaths, official data released Monday showed.
The Victoria state government said there were 980 deaths in the final week of January, 374 higher than the average over the same period in the previous five years.
The rise in fatalities was higher than the toll of 173 who died when Australia's worst wildfire disaster hit Victoria on February 7.
The figures showed the elderly were particularly vulnerable as temperatures soared as high as 45.1 degrees Celsius (113.2 Fahrenheit), resulting in power blackouts and a spike in emergency hospital admissions.
"Elderly people are more prone to heat stress than younger people because their body may not adjust well to temperature change," Victoria's chief health officer John Carnie said.
"They are more likely to have a chronic medical condition and to be taking medication that may interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature."
Carnie said it was difficult to give a definitive figure on how many died because of the heatwave.
"It's hard to separate the effects of chronic illness from the specific effects of heat," he told reporters.
"Some of these deaths may have occurred in days, weeks after the heat event and were brought forward by a short period."
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