Emergency rooms in Prince George's County, Maryland, filled up Saturday by people looking toescapetheheat, said Fran Phillips, deputy secretary for the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The stench from overflowing toilets and drainpipes made some cabins uninhabitable and many people slept in corridors, while others took bedding out into the open toescapetheheat and foul smell.
In the past two months over 2, 000 people have drowned trying toescapetheheat by dunking themselves in lakes and rivers. (For comparison, 13, 000 Soviet soldiers died during the ten-year Afghan campaign.) Fully 90% of them were drunken men, say officials.