Photos: South grapples with dangerous heat wave
Emergency medical technicians help the Eagle Pass Fire Department stock water and ice in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday, June 29.
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In pictures: South grapples with dangerous heat wave

Updated 1730 GMT (0130 HKT) June 30, 2023

Emergency medical technicians help the Eagle Pass Fire Department stock water and ice in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday, June 29.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Millions of Americans have been sweltering under a heat wave that has brought triple-digit temperatures to parts of the South.

The scorching temperatures are being brought on by a "heat dome," which is created when a ridge of high pressure builds over an area, trapping air inside as temperatures warm — often to uncomfortable or even dangerous levels.

As Americans face hotter and hotter temperatures, officials are urging people to take safety precautions. The medical examiner in Webb County, Texas, reported Wednesday that nine people had died in eight days due to heat-related illnesses.

A man cools off in a mister at Kauffman Stadium before a Major League Baseball game in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday, June 28.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Construction crews work to repair a Houston road that was damaged by the extreme heat.
Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images
A backyard thermometer shows triple-digit temperatures in Plano, Texas, on Tuesday, June 27.
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EMTs treat a woman who was suffering from heat exhaustion in Eagle Pass. She recovered with their help, according to the Reuters news agency.
Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuters
Sweat runs down the face of Robert Harris as he digs fence-post holes in Houston on June 27.
David J. Phillip/AP
A cooler filled with ice water is wheeled outside a Salvation Army shelter in Conroe, Texas, on June 27.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle/AP
Archimedes, a Eurasian eagle-owl, is cooled off by his handler at the Phoenix Zoo on June 27.
Matt York/AP
Regina "Mama Cat" Rhodes fans herself at her tarot card table in New Orleans on June 27.
Christiana Botic/The New York Times/Redux
People are silhouetted against the setting sun in Kansas City on June 23.
Charlie Riedel/AP
A temperature display in Houston reads 99 degrees on June 21.
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Dymond Black sits with a towel over his head in Austin, Texas, on June 19.
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