Heat Wave Deaths Rise Past 500 Mark

The death toll from Chicago’s heat wave two weeks ago rose to 529 Thursday as the city braced for another weekend of high heat and humidity.

Thirty-two bodies counted from hospitals and funeral homes raised the number of deaths, said Dan Collins, an investigator for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“These are people that have been laid up in the hospital, for example, what we’d call delayed fatalities,” Collins said.

The heat wave sent the mercury past 100 on July 13 and 14 in Chicago, a city that had not seen a 100-degree day since 1991.

Federal, state and city agencies have been investigating the causes of the staggering death toll.