BLAST FURNACE CALLED SUMMER

As always, torrid July abounds in thunderstorms, downpours, hailstorms, and gusts of wind. Last Wednesday, the East Carpathians saw a 89 mm. of precipitation in as little as three hours, which was three times that day's maximum precipitation all over Ukraine. In Drohobych, the gusts of wind reached 25 meters/sec. In four districts of Lviv oblast, 148 populated areas had electricity cut off.

Someone dubbed the heat wave "a blast furnace called summer." Excessive sun exacerbates ailments and promote the growth of skin cancer. Every year about 35,000 people contract the skin and breast cancer, The Day's Oleksandr FANDEYEV reports. Doctors advise to take a cancer test before dipping into sweet solar and aquatic languor.

As Halyna Leliukh, a consulting physician at Kyiv's Zdorovia information service, affirms, there is also high risk of sunstroke on the street or heatstroke indoors. Especially at midday. The symptoms are high fever, blood pressure, and sometimes vomiting. One must seek salvation in a headgear and light clothes that breath.

Even sea fish cannot withstand such terrible heat. Last Thursday, there was a mass fishkill all along Berdiansk Spit, unconnected with any waste discharge. The oxygen content of the sea water dropped sharply - by 3-3.5 times. On July 7-8, the water and air temperatures exceeded 30 and 35 degrees, respectively.

Eyewitnesses say, The Day's Viktor PUZHAICHEREDA reports, that a huge mass of bullheads and smelts beached themselves and died in a dead calm.

Another result of this weather is fire. According to Interfax-Ukraine, 31 hectares of peat bogs are on fire in Starovyzhivsky district, Volyn oblast.

And according to the Ministry of Emergencies, the desire to find shelter from the heat in water has resulted in the drowning of 61 people in Ukraine since the beginning of July.