Weekly wrap-up: Obama urges caution amid sweltering US heat; China flooding causes losses of $22 billion

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

July 23,2016; 1:12PM,EDT

 

 

Many locations around the world endured dangerously hot weather this week, while severe flooding persisted in China.
As the stifling heat brought the hottest conditions of the summer across parts of the country, President Obama took to Twitter to urge Americans to take heat warnings seriously.
Temperatures topped out in the 90s and 100s F across the majority of the Central states.
Across the Atlantic, a heat wave gripped the United Kingdom. Some locations across the U.K. recorded the higher temperatures in more than a year before the heat began to wind down on Thursday.
"Temperatures peaked near 92 F (33 C) in London and 92.3 F (33.5 C) in Brize Norton on Tuesday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Eric Leister stated.
According to the BBC, the heat disrupted rail service, and the London Ambulance Service reported that it had received 300 more calls than normal on Tuesday.
Extreme heat also scorched the Middle East this week, as temperatures climbed well above normal. The temperature soared to 52.6 C (126.7 F) in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on Wednesday.
Along the northern brim of heat, severe storms ripped through the Northeast on Monday, bringing damaging winds and large hail and causing tens of thousands of power outages.
A 26-year-old woman died in Fanwood, New Jersey, after she came in contact with live wires that were blown onto her car during the storms, NJ.com reported.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Caribou, Maine, confirmed that a very short-lived EF0 tornado caused tree damage near the town of Perham. No injuries were reported.
An AccuWeather reader submitted this photo of a thunderstorm in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on Monday, July 18. (AccuWeather Photo Gallery/weaderman)
Tornadoes are not a common occurrence in Maine. No tornadoes touched down in 2015, and only one tornado per year hit from 2012-2014. From 1991 to 2010, the state averaged two tornadoes per year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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Two people were killed by lightning strikes in the U.S. this week, just one week after five lighting deaths were reported across the country.
A 23-year-old man was struck Tuesday afternoon on a golf course in Arvada, Colorado, and died several hours later, according to The Denver Post. The other fatality occurred when a 17-year-old boy was struck while hiking near Flagstaff, Arizona, on Wednesday, ABC 15 in Phoenix reported.
The total number of lightning fatalities so far this year in the U.S. is 16.
Some of the worst flooding in China's history continued to wreak havoc on the northern part of the country. The Associated Press reported that at least 150 people have died since Monday and tens of thousands have been evacuated.
The torrential rains caused travel disruptions, including around the capital of Beijing, China's Xinhua news agency said. Hundreds of flights were canceled while several subway stations had to close.
Government officials urged people to limit their travel, while also warning those in affected areas to prepare for additional floods and landslides, Xinhua reported. In the province of Henan alone, 18,000 homes were destroyed.
A motorist looks at a flooded underpass during a rainstorm in Beijing, Wednesday, July 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Zhang Jiatuan a spokesperson for the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, told Xinhuanet that the economic losses of the flooding were $22 billion (in U.S. dollars).
Several AccuWeather meteorologists and staff writers contributed content to this article.