LOS ANGELES, July 27 (UPI) -- Temperatures may be moderating but the death toll keeps rising in Southern California as thousands remain without power in the wake of a record heat wave.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said 11,000 customers were without service Wednesday, down from 25,000 the day before, the Los Angeles Times reports.
More than 60 people are believed to have died from the intense heat with Fresno County among the hardest hit areas.
Most of the victims were elderly like 85-year-old Billie Lorraine Walker, who accidentally turned up the heat instead of the air conditioner in her Sacramento home.
Fresno firefighters reported temperatures were higher than 100 degrees when they found Araxie Long, 82, and her son, Carl Long Jr., 53, dead inside their Fresno home Tuesday.
A spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard said temperatures are expected to fall to the low to mid-80s on Friday.
