California heat kills four

Sweltering heat may have caused at least four deaths this week in California, including a resident at a nursing home who died after the air conditioning system failed.

Temperatures around 40C covered much of the southwestern United States yesterday, and cranked-up air conditioners throughout California briefly threatened to send the state into a power emergency for a second-straight day.

Excessive heat warnings were in effect through parts of Southern California, where temperatures reached 36C in downtown Los Angeles and 42C in nearby Woodland Hills.

In Stockton, where temperatures reached a record-high 46C, crews evacuated more than 100 patients early yesterday from the Beverly Healthcare Centre after the nursing home’s air conditioning gave out and two patients were taken to hospital with heat-related stress, said police spokesman Pete Smith.

One patient died, and the other was in critical condition. The evacuated were taken to hospitals and care centres.