Hundreds believed dead as heatwave strikes US and Canada

Washington state authorities have linked more than 20 deaths to the heat, but officials said that number is likely to rise

Salem Fire Department paramedics and employees of Falck Northwest ambulances respond to a heat exposure call during a heat wave in Salem, Oregon. Picture: AP

Hundreds of people are feared to have died during record-breaking temperatures in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada.

Officials have set up cooling centres, distributed water to the homeless and took other steps as the mercury climbed as high as 46C in cities such as Seattle and Portland.