Maryland state health authorities say last week's heat contributed to the deaths of 11 people, raising the total for the season to more than 20.
Fran Phillips of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene told The Baltimore Sun that all
of the people who died last week had underlying health conditions that made them more vulnerable.
Temperatures last week reached as high as 101 on Friday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and had been even higher the week before.
Phillips said the high death toll has prompted her department to study how many of the victims knew of their underlying health problems.
The 11 deaths from last week increased the season's total to 21. Health authorities reported 32 confirmed heat-related deaths in 2010.
