No relief in sight as US heatwave moves east

WASHINGTON • A heatwave that baked much of the central US last week will start to move eastward with dangerously high temperatures, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service told Americans on Monday to gird themselves for another day of well above normal, near-record or even record-breaking heat from the central Plains to the Upper Midwest.

"Dangerous heat will continue to make headlines," the service said in an advisory.

The scorching blast was starting to drift eastward yesterday into the Great Lakes region with highs in the mid-30 deg C - up to 10 deg C above normal.

Around 120 million people were under some sort of advisory last week as a heatwave scorched parts of the Upper Midwest and the Southeast. This stemmed from what forecasters called a dome of high pressure, with wild weather such as thunderstorms, flash flooding and extreme rainfall erupting around its edges.

Yellowstone National Park, the oldest park in the United States, closed down last week because of extensive flood damage as roads were washed away. Torrential rainfall and snowmelt sent months' worth of run-off into rivers in just a couple of days.

The sprawling park sits mainly in Wyoming and is home to the Old Faithful geyser. The authorities used helicopters to rescue nearly 90 people. The park said its southern section will reopen to visitors today, but officials say other parts will remain closed for the rest of the season.

As heat scorched the southwest, a wildfire burning its way up a mountainside in Arizona consumed four buildings at the Kitt Peak National Observatory but they apparently did not contain telescopes or other scientific equipment, officials said.

"This is the most threatening fire I can remember at Kitt Peak in the last 25 years," ABC News quoted Mr Buell Jannuzi, who heads the University of Arizona's astronomy department, as saying.

The university is a tenant at the observatory, which is operated by the National Science Foundation.

A fire was raging, meanwhile, in the Wharton State Forest in the north-eastern state of New Jersey, officials said. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service said the blaze, which began on Sunday, had consumed 2,900ha by Monday and was 45 per cent contained.

It said 18 structures were threatened, but no injuries have been reported. Wildfires are common in the western US during the summer but are unusual in the east of the country.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE