Egyptian MP urges government to exempt south from power cuts after 40 deaths by heat wave

An unforgiving heat wave recently ravaged Egypt and claimed the lives of 40 people in Aswan province, prompting the lower-house of the parliament to urge the government to exempt southern provinces from power cuts, initially intended to reduce electrical overloads.

In her urgent motion, submitted on Sunday, 9 June, MP Reham Abdel-Naby said that other than sun strokes, the southern parts of Egypt, also including Luxor city, witnessed the spread of deadly harmful animals due to the heat, particularly scorpions.

With temperatures ranging from 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, electrical overloads have now added to Egyptian woes, especially in the south known for its extremely hot weather. 

"People died from the extreme heat... the government is required to take prompt action to save lives, or else be held accountable for other casualties," Abdel-Naby said, addressing the parliament speaker.

On 6 June, Aswan recorded a staggering temperature of 49.6 degrees Celsius in the shade, marking one of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region, according to the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.

On Monday, local news outlets reported, citing the Egyptian General Authority of Meteorology (EMA) as revealing that the country would be witnessing more increasing temperatures as of the following day.

Temperatures are expected to rise again in the capital, Cairo, to record 42 degrees Celsius later this week, also reaching 46 in the south, according to EMA.

Earlier this month, the government declared it would extend its rolling power blackouts across the country for an extra hour to allow for preventative maintenance on its regional gas and power networks and due to the rising power consumption triggered by the heatwave.

The country began cutting power for an hour daily last summer, increasing the outage to up to two hours this year.