Heat Claims Two More Oklahomans

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Heat claimed two more lives over the weekend, helping set a record for heat stroke deaths in the state.<br/><br/>The state Medical Examiner's Office says 83-year-old Catherine

Monday, August 7th 2006, 6:09 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Heat claimed two more lives over the weekend, helping set a record for heat stroke deaths in the state.

The state Medical Examiner's Office says 83-year-old Catherine Kretchmar of Medford was out watering flowers on Friday when she was overcome by heat.

52-year-old Roger Austin of Oklahoma County complained of feeling ill and overheated before succumbing to heat stroke Friday night. Austin lived in a home without air conditioning and spent the day on the porch as a means of escaping the heat on a triple-digit day.

Their deaths brought the total for the year to 20 -- 18 in the past month alone. Fourteen heat stroke deaths occurred in 2005.

The medical examiner says that until this year, the most heat stroke deaths came in 2000, when there were 16 deaths.