A fire devastates a Canadian village that has reached nearly 50 ° C | World

According to the “Vancouver Sun” newspaper, two people died, but the number of victims could be even higher. Authorities still do not know the whereabouts of all of the residents and it is believed that not all of them managed to escape.

The smoke was visible from above, and Congressman Bradley Vis, who represents the area, believes that even 90% of buildings were consumed by fire. Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman gave the scale of the severity of the fire in an interview with CBC News.

“The whole town is on fire. It only took 15 minutes from the first sign of smoke until all of a sudden there was fire everywhere, ”Polderman said.

“It will be a miracle if everyone survives,” the mayor said.

According to the CBC broadcaster, dozens of people were still looking in this farm (1st) for relatives who were lost during the evacuation of the city. It is still unclear what caused the fire.

Lytton recorded the highest temperatures in Canadian history this week for three consecutive days:

• Sunday (27/6) – 46.1 ° C
• Monday (28/6) – 47.9 ° C
• Tuesday (29/6) – 49.6 ° C (record)

The heatwave affected the entire Canadian province of British Columbia as well as Oregon and Washington, in the United States, which also recorded temperature records.

The number of deaths linked to the unusually high heat is not yet clear. But western Canada has recorded 500 deaths since the weekend, an above-normal number that indicates there have been casualties from the extremely high temperatures. See the VIDEO above.

This summer of extreme temperatures is explained by a phenomenon called the thermal dome. It is a huge high pressure system that formed between California and the Arctic, preventing the formation of clouds and cool winds. Scientists warn that with climate change, such phenomena will become more frequent.