California Wildfire Explodes in Size
As millions across US face extreme heat
HAVANA TIMES – In California, some 2,000 firefighters are battling a large wildfire near Yosemite National Park that exploded in size over the weekend. The Oak Fire has burned nearly 16,000 acres and is 0% contained.
In New Mexico, two people were killed and a third is missing after flash flooding struck an area that recently burned in the state’s largest wildfire on record. Elsewhere in New Mexico, a stretch of the Rio Grande river outside of Albuquerque has run dry for the first time in four decades. This follows three consecutive years of extreme drought in the region.
This comes as a heat wave continues across much of the United States. More than 85 million people were under a heat warning or heat advisory on Sunday. In New Jersey, the city of Newark hit an all-time record high of 102 degrees on Sunday, capping Newark’s first-ever streak of five consecutive days of triple-digit heat.