with local reports
Oklahomans baked Wednesday in the 11th day of a heat wave packing temperatures well above 100 degrees and leading to at least two deaths and countless heat-related illnesses.
The hot weather was nearly responsible for another death when a 95-year-old woman passed out in her home in Tulsa while waiting for a new air conditioner, firefighters said. The installer called police when he didn't get a response from the woman. She was hospitalized in stable condition.
Heat has been blamed for the death of two people in the Oklahoma County area. A 76-year-old man died in a home with a broken air conditioner and a 62-year-old woman died in a home where the air conditioner was turned off. Authorities are investigating the deaths of three others as possibly heat-related.
By afternoon, all but four of the 46 sites monitored by the National Weather Service were recording temperatures of 100 degrees or higher.
Locally, Jackson County Emergency Medical Services personnel received two heat-related calls Wednesday.
One at approximately 1 p.m. in the Navajo and Nona streets area where one person reportedly collapsed from the heat.
EMS also responded to a call at 3:45 Wedmesdau a mile north and a mile east of the Friendship community for a possible heat stroke victim.
The state's highest temperature Wednesday was 109 degrees, recorded in Cherokee in northwest Oklahoma. The temperature reached 108 degrees in Norman, Ada, Alva, Ardmore, Lawton, Buffalo and Freedom. Alva still was at 108 degrees at 7:30 p.m.
The weather service has issued an excessive heat warning through Friday for all parts of Oklahoma except the Panhandle.
The heat wave, which started July 9, is expected to last at least two more days. The forecast for Thursday was for highs across the state to range from 99 to 109 degrees, and Friday's forecast is similar, with highs from 93 to 109.
Relief could come Saturday with breezy and cooler weather, with highs in the mid 80s to mid 90s and a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.
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