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Date Published: 29/08/2023

Deaths in Andalucia due to extreme heat double

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Twice as many people died in Andalucia because of the sky-high temperatures than in 2022

Deaths in Andalucia due to extreme heat double

Andalucia is sweltering through the last throes of the fifth heatwave since June and yet another summer where the temperatures are well above average, frequently hitting a suffocating 43ºC. Sadly, the deadly side of extreme heat has been exposed in the community and 154 people lost their lives because of the excessive temperatures between August 1 and 23.

According to the Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo), that’s double the number of heat-related fatalities reported during the same period of 2022.

Moreover, the data for this August are by far the highest of the last five years, although the death records for the same dates in 2020 and 2021 are close, with 133 and 128 deaths attributable to high temperatures, respectively, while in 2019, only 27 deaths were registered.

Specialists say that the health effects of these episodes of extreme heat occur in the short term, from the day the heat wave begins until four or five days later. This is corroborated by the data from the study, which detail that August 12 and 13 were the days with the highest number of deaths due to extreme heat, with 12 fatalities each, along with August 14, when 11 deaths were recorded.

History shows us that the vast majority of complications affect older people and other at-risk groups and in Andalucia, of the 154 deaths so far this August, 149 of the deceased were over the age of 56 and 87 of them were over 85.

By provinces, only Cádiz has not registered any fatalities due to extreme heat this month, while Seville is where the most have occurred, with 62 deaths. It’s followed by Malaga, where 38 victims have been counted, Jaén, with 17, Cordoba, 12, Grenada, 11, Huelva, 8 and Almeria, 7.

The figures for Spain as a whole have actually almost halved compared to last year (966 deaths as opposed to 1,607 in 2022) but Andalucia has the second-worst death rate due to extreme heat in the country, second only to Madrid, with 171 victims. Next up is Castilla-La Mancha (105), followed by Galicia (99), Castilla y Leon (89), Aragon (75) and Catalonia (69).

Surprisingly, given the record-high temperatures, only the Balearic Islands hasn’t reported any heat-related fatalities this August.

Join our Andalucia Weather Watch Facebook group for regular updates

Image: Freepik

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