Heat wave blamed for at least 13 deaths in Texas

Lifeguard Callum Glover cools off during a safety break at the Memorial Park swimming pool in Houston, Texas (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Scorching heat blamed for at least 13 deaths in Texas and another in Louisiana has blanketed more of the US Southeast, stretching government warnings of dangerous temperatures eastward into Mississippi and Tennessee.

California, meanwhile, was facing its first major heat wave of the year. The National Weather Service warned that the dry, hot, windy conditions were ripe for dangerous fires in parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.