Two dead as heatwave bakes US from midwest to Atlantic*

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2007

At least two people were reported Wednesday to have died as an
oppressive heatwave smothered the United States from the midwestern
plains to the east coast city streets of Washington.

Press reports said a 47-year-old railway worker in the central state of
Oklahoma collapsed on the job Tuesday and was pronounced dead on arrival
at a hospital in the town of Poteau, in the eastern part of the state.

His body temperature was reportedly near 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2
Celsius).

In neighboring Arkansas, where soaring temperatures combined with high
humidity to push the heat index -- what the temperature really feels
like -- as high as 110 Fahrenheit (43.3 C), health officials reported
that an elderly person had died because of the heat, but declined to
give more details.

The National Weather Service has issued heat advisories for 22 states,
stretching from Kansas and Oklahoma in the heart of the United States to
Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland, and down the east coast to northern
Florida.

"There are heat advisories and excessive heat warnings in many of the
affected areas for this afternoon and evening," meteorologist Chris
Hedge of the National Weather Service told AFP.

A heat advisory means conditions will be too warm to allow the body to
cool off and heat-related illness may occur, according to the National
Weather Service's website.

"We advise people to drink lots of fluids, stay out of the sun, cool off
in air conditioned areas, and check on the elderly, because they are
more affected by the heat," Hedge said.

The meteorological center also warns against leaving pets or very young
children in cars, "even with the windows slightly open because the
temperature inside the car can quickly climb to 135 Fahrenheit."

In all the states affected by the heatwave, the authorities were opening
"cooling centers" to help people escape the rising mercury.

"A cooling center is an air conditioned facility that is made available
to the public. We have five cooling centers which are open to any
homeless person in the District," Rosalind Redmond of the Washington DC
Shelter Hotline told AFP.

"We are also handing out water to homeless people on the streets," she said.

In the capital, the heat was forecast to intensify until it reached a
peak of 102 Fahrenheit (38.8 C) on Sunday.