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Extreme heat that hit Montreal last June could have killed at least 14 people, it has been learned The DutyThe worsening climate crisis is also likely to cause more deaths in the years to come, without more ambitious adaptation measures.
According to data obtained from the Montreal Regional Public Health Department (DRSP), so far, the metropolis has experienced this summer “a period of extreme heat” which led to the triggering of the “heat intervention plan”.
The Montreal region experienced such a period from June 18 to 21. “During these three days, the daily maximum temperature varied from 32.6 to 33.7°C and the minimum temperature, from 20.3 to 22.7°C,” specifies the DRSP, adding that this is for the moment the only episode of its kind this year.
This marked increase in mercury, which has been amplified by global warming, is believed to have caused deaths. The Montreal DRSP has received “14 reports of deaths possibly linked to heat.” An official report should be drawn up in the coming months.
“Overall, these reports concerned people considered vulnerable, at risk of heat-related health effects, as was the case during the 2018 heat wave,” they said in an email. At the time, during this wave, high temperatures killed a total of 66 people, according to data analyzed by the DRSP. Of this number, 66% lived in a heat island.
In 2020, according to data from the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), a total of 149 “excess deaths” were “attributable to heat waves.”
This heat, which is increasingly hitting urban areas like Montreal, is directly linked to the consequences of global warming, according to information published last week by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Using the “Rapid Attribution System for Extreme Weather Events,” experts were able to determine that climate change had made the heat waves that hit Canada in June and July much more likely. “This means that human influence on the climate has made these events at least two to ten times more likely,” according to the department.
Climate change is happening faster than adaptation measures are being implemented, so we will always be in deficit unless we speed things up.
The worst is yet to come
A professor in the Department of Geography at UQAM and a specialist in climate issues, Philippe Gachon is not surprised that intense heat can lead to deaths in urban areas. “Heat waves cause an increase in mortality and morbidity, therefore deaths linked to the effects of heat in a context where people already suffer from other health problems, such as heart problems or mental health problems,” he explains.
Holder of the UQAM Research Chair on the reduction of social inequalities in health, Janie Houle also points out that the most disadvantaged people in cities and the elderly, two categories of more “isolated” people, are particularly exposed to these climatic episodes.
Without assuming the situation of the people who died last June in Montreal, she believes that “it would be very surprising if the DRSP found a profile of people in good health, rich and well surrounded.” “It will probably be a profile that we know and that is well documented. So we can’t say that we don’t know.”
“Our social safety net is insufficient to protect the most vulnerable from heat waves,” adds Mr.me Houle, who is advocating for additional resources to support those most at risk of suffering the repercussions of the climate crisis.
Greening
Mme Houle and Mr. Gachon also insist on the need to accelerate the implementation of adaptation measures, such as greening cities and easy access to “heat stops” allowing people who do not have access to air conditioning to cool off for a few hours during heat waves.
Without ambitious measures, Philippe Gachon points out, the pressure on the health system will only increase. “Heat waves, characterized by high temperatures and often accompanied by high humidity, a lack of wind, smog or high nighttime temperatures, constitute a significant danger to public health. They can indeed cause various health problems, ranging from physical to mental health, and even death,” Ouranos rightly pointed out in a text published at the end of June.
And time is running out to act on adaptation and prevention, since the current situation is only a prelude to what awaits us, due to global climate warming. From an annual average of 3 days at over 32°C a decade ago, we could go to more than 20 days by 2040, then to nearly 50 days before the end of the century, according to data from the INSPQ.
“Climate change is happening faster than the implementation of adaptation measures. We will therefore always be in deficit, unless we speed things up,” warns Marie-Jo Ouimet, from the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal.