As this record-heat persists the number of North Texans losing their life from a heat-related illness continues to climb.
Dallas County says the number of heat deaths stands at nine from June and July.
Doctor Philip Huang, the director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, adds the number will rise after the medical examiner’s office completes death investigations in August.
“We know there are quite a few more that are still pending an investigation so these numbers don’t really reflect what the final count is going to be,” Huang said.
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In neighboring Tarrant County, health officials say 12 people have died from the heat since May 1 with hundreds more suffering some form of heat-related illness like heat exhaustion, heat stroke or heat cramp.
On Tuesday afternoon, MedStar and firefighters with the Fort Worth Fire Department rushed in when a woman started feeling sick standing in line at a food pantry distribution.
“It’s definitely been certainly a bad year we’ve seen in terms of hospitalizations and heat-related illness,” Huang said.
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DCHHS launched a heat-related illness dashboard this summer as part of its renewed emphasis on making public health data available that started during the pandemic.
On Saturday, the dashboard registered 1300 heat-related illness calls since June 1, with men ages 18-44 accounting for approximately half of all cases.
The dashboard also tracks reported heat-related illness calls compared to daily temperature. The dashboard has data through Aug. 16.
