Lethal heat wave brings Calif. near brink of mandatory blackouts

The 50-person refrigerator at the morgue in Fresno, Calif., is full, primarily with the bodies of elderly people who are believed to be victims of a sustained blast of triple-digit heat that has tormented most of the state in the past two weeks.

"I have never seen these kinds of numbers," said Loralee Cervantes, the Fresno County coroner, who also said the temperature outside her office Tuesday was 110. "There are so many we can't keep up."

California edged away from mandatory electricity blackouts Tuesday as slightly cooler air — although still in the low 100s — began to filter across much of the state.

A day after the state shattered its record for electricity consumption, power managers said clouds and lower temperatures in coming days would lessen the likelihood of rolling blackouts.

"At this point, if everything remains OK, then we are all right through the day," said Kristina Osborne, spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state power grid. "It is supposed to cool as we go through the week."

A power emergency on Monday required some businesses to curtail power use in exchange for lower electricity rates. It has ended, although residents were being warned to conserve power and limit the use of large appliances during daytime hours.

Most of the heat-related deaths occurred in the sweltering Central Valley. In Fresno, in the north of the valley, the coroner said many victims collapsed inside their homes.

"Some people had power outages, some can't afford to pay their bills, some were using fans and we had one case where a man was scared of the sound of his air conditioner," Cervantes said. She said most of the dead were 65 to 80 years old.

Residents across Southern California have put up with multiple, widely scattered power outages as hundreds of overtaxed power-pole transformers have blown up or otherwise stopped functioning. More than 50,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, about 145,000 homes and businesses were still without power after two storms last week knocked out electricity to nearly 600,000 customers. A utility worker was electrocuted Tuesday and another was injured while trying to restore power.

Many grew frustrated with Ameren Corp.'s handling of the crisis. The Rev. Al Sharpton led a protest Tuesday in front of the utility's headquarters, saying the company was not doing enough to help poor and working-class people. Ameren officials have said the company responded within 15 minutes after the first storm hit.

In New York City, a blackout that left about 100,000 people without electricity all but ended Tuesday, relieving customers who endured nine days of rotting food and sweltering homes.

Consolidated Edison said fewer than 500 people remained without electricity in the borough of Queens as of Tuesday evening.