Texas plagued by heat, drought, water parasite, wildfires
PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press
DALLAS — Relentlessly sweltering heat across Texas was blamed Saturday for three deaths in Dallas County, and forecasters warned that the worst is likely still ahead.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed three heat-related deaths — two people last month in their 80s, and a 49-year-old man in June — as the Dallas area braced for an expected 107-degree scorcher Sunday that would rank as the hottest day of the year.
Saturday's high of 104 around Dallas was the ninth straight day of triple-digit heat, a stretch that began at the end of the fourth-hottest July on record in North Texas.
There's no relief in sight, either.
"I'm looking at 10 days (ahead), and I don't see any big break," said Dan Shoemaker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The medical examiner said the three heat-related deaths were Ronald Gibson, 49; Billie Emmons, 82; and Harold Ulrick, 84. Ulrick died Monday, when forecasters say the high was 105, which has so far been the hottest day of the year around Dallas.
Meanwhile, those hoping to cool off with a swim now face an outbreak of a waterborne illness in pools, lakes and water parks that has sickened at least 100 North Texas swimmers.
Experts say they don't know exactly why there's been a spike in the outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis, a diarrhea disease. Officials have temporarily closed swimming holes, public pools, spray grounds and water parks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where crypto has been contracted and those areas have been super-chlorinated in an attempt to wipe out the nasty parasite.
In Texas, the number of cases has increased from 79 in 2003 to 237 in 2007, state figures show.
The long spell of sweltering and dry weather has kept Texas firefighters busy during what are traditionally slow months for wildfires. Police have been affected, too, as four officers in Fort Worth were treated for heat exhaustion Friday after chasing two suspects on foot.
Sixteen wildfires across the state, the largest more than 1,000 acres, continued burning Saturday, Texas Forest Service spokesman Bruce Miller said. He said the dryness, hot temperatures and low humidity has the north-central part of the state in the 90th percentile of fire indicies.
"To be this critical and have the fire conditions we have now is unusual for this time of year," Miller said.
Only 1.65 inches of rain has fallen at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport since June 1. The average for this time of year is 5.47 inches, Shoemaker said.
The Dallas area has recorded 23 triple-digit days so far this year — still well short of the record of 69 in 1980. Shoemaker said the heat index on Sunday around Dallas might exceed 110 degrees.