Summer scorcher: Extreme heat hits Midwest, South before moving to Northeast

August 27, 2024August 27, 2024

ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Extreme heat is gripping the Midwest and the South on Tuesday before moving into the Northeast on Wednesday.

Record-high temperatures were shattered across the Midwest on Monday, including in Waterloo, Iowa, which reached a scorching 98 degrees.

On Tuesday, 14 states from Iowa to New York are on alert for dangerous heat.

In Detroit, public school students are being released three hours early on Tuesday due to the heat.

The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to soar Tuesday to 110 degrees in Chicago; 101 degrees in Indianapolis and Nashville, Tennessee; 100 in Louisville, Kentucky; and 98 in Pittsburgh.

On Wednesday, the heat will spread into the Northeast.

Washington, D.C., could reach a record high of 99 degrees with a heat index of 104 degrees. The heat index could reach 105 degrees in Philadelphia and 99 in New York City.

On Thursday, the record heat will end for the Midwest and the Northeast, but will continue for the South.

Actual temperatures of 101 degrees and 97 degrees are forecast for Nashville and Atlanta, respectively.

There are hundreds of deaths each year in the U.S. due to excessive heat, according to CDC WONDER, an online database, and scientists caution that the actual number of heat-related deaths is likely higher.

Last year marked the most heat-related deaths in the U.S. on record, according to JAMA, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association.

Body of man who went missing while on vacation believed to have been found

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office released this Ring camera still of Stanley Kotowski in the clothes he was last seen wearing before going missing. (Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office)

(NEW YORK) — Authorities in South Carolina said they believe they have found the body of an endangered Massachusetts man who went missing over a week ago while vacationing with his family on Hilton Head Island.

Stanley Kotowski, 60, had not been seen since leaving his family’s vacation rental in Sea Pines the morning of Aug. 16, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The body of a man believed to be Kotowski was found under a home in Sea Pines on Monday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.

Authorities responded to the home around 11:30 a.m. ET Monday “in connection to suspicious activity,” and the body was recovered about four hours later, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy on Tuesday to determine the manner of death and positively identify the body, the sheriff’s office said.

“We appreciate the assistance provided by other agencies, Sea Pines Security, and the community in the search for Mr. Kotowski,” the sheriff’s office said.

Kotowski was reported missing by his family about two hours after he was last seen, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Master Sergeant Daniel Allen. He was listed as endangered due to his mental state, the length of time he has been missing and because he was last seen on a Ring camera without any shoes on, Allen said.

According to the incident report, Jackie Kotowski told deputies that her husband “believes Sea Pines is a ‘set up’ and has a conspiracy that the people here are out to get him.” She also reported that he had made “several statements of people at this place ‘watching him,'” the incident report stated.

He had been struggling with anxiety before he went missing, his family told ABC Savannah, Georgia, affiliate WJCL-TV following his disappearance.

“He had really bad insomnia for about a month. This is like a brand-new thing,” his wife, Jackie Kotowski, told WJCL. “He doesn’t have dementia. His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse and he started to get a little paranoid, and he thought someone was chasing him.”

He had not taken any personal items, such as his phone or wallet, when he left the rental, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

E. coli cases linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders rise to 75 across 13 states: CDC

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The number of cases in a deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has risen to 75, according to new federal data released Friday.

Cases have been reported in 13 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Most of the cases have been in Colorado, which has 26 reported cases, and Montana, which has 13 reported cases, according to the CDC.

Cases have also been reported in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to the CDC, which further notes that illnesses have occurred between Sept. 27 and Oct. 10 of this year.

Of the 61 people about whom the CDC has information, 22 have been hospitalized, and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious, potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney failure, according to the CDC.

One death has been reported in Colorado in connection with the outbreak. The person was a resident of Mesa County in the western part of the state, according to the Mesa County department of health.

“The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” the CDC said in its update. “This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for E. coli. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.”

McDonald’s says either fresh, slivered onions or beef patties used for the Quarter Pounder may be behind the outbreak.

Following the initial announcement of the outbreak on Tuesday, the fast-food company announced it had proactively removed two ingredients from stores across two affected regions. The company’s leadership team said that a majority of other menu items are not impacted, according to the CDC investigation.

McDonald’s confirmed in a statement to ABC News that Taylor Farms is the supplier of the sliced onions the fast-food chain removed, but it is unclear whether Taylor Farms provides its products directly to McDonald’s or through an intermediary.

Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall on Wednesday for its raw onions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that raw slivered onions and the beef patties are the focus of their investigation as potential E. coli sources, but also indicated that preliminary data suggests the onions are “a likely source of contamination.”

ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy and Taylor Dunn contributed to this report.