NYC ME: Heat cited in 7 deaths this summer

The summer's punishing heat has killed three more elderly New Yorkers, bringing the death toll for hyperthermia to seven so far this season, the city medical examiner reported Monday.

Two of the deaths occurred on Aug. 1, those of a 72-year-old man and a 77-year-old woman, both of Brooklyn. The third was an 84-year-old Bronx woman who died Thursday, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for chief medical examiner Charles Hirsch. All had underlying diseases such as heart conditions or diabetes, Borakove noted.

Except for the case of a 10-year-old Brooklyn girl, the other heat-related deaths this summer involved people older than 70, the oldest a 94-year-old Brooklyn woman, officials said.

Borakove said it's possible that other deaths may yet be found to have been related to the heat.

The number of deaths is below the 40 that occurred during the heat wave of July and August 1999, said Borakove, who didn't have historical data for earlier years. A check of newspaper archives found that 564 heat-related deaths were recorded during an August 1896 heat wave in the New York "metropolitan district," which included areas that became the five boroughs plus Hudson County, N.J. More than 90 people reportedly died in the city on Aug. 12 of that year from the heat and about 100 horses died on the streets in six days.