A 78-year-old Brooklyn man was the first victim of the city’s brutal seven-day heat wave, authorities said yesterday.
An autopsy by the city Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that the man, whose name was not released, died of hyperthermia on Friday, when temperatures soared to 96 degrees in Central Park.
Hyperthermia occurs when a body absorbs more heat than it can release.
ME spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said the victim had underlying medical issues.
Friday was the most dangerous day of the stretch, with the heat index reaching 109. Con Ed said the city broke a record that day for electricity usage, peaking at 13,214 megawatts at 2 p.m. The old mark, 13,189, was set on July 22, 2011.
This was the second heat-related death this month, according to the ME’s Office. On July 8, with temperatures reaching 89, Carmine Peragine, 57, of Staten Island, succumbed to hyperthermia.
Peragine, a Yankee fan and retired E-ZPass worker, collapsed on July 7 and died the next day. He, too, had underlying medical problems, the ME’s Office said.
The weeklong wave of oppressive temperatures was the city’s longest since 2002, which saw an eight-day heat wave in July and a nine-day stretch in August.
Temperatures are expected to return to the more seasonal 80s this week.
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