Heatwave in US over 250 anniversary celebrations

A dangerous heat wave upended the Fourth of July celebrations across swaths

of the central and eastern United States on Friday.

Tourists from New Jersey say,

Overwhelmingly hot is an understatement. It is incredible hot.

It is a disaster to be out there.

And I would just say these museums are a lifesaver.

Outside, the National Archives Museum in Washington DC

is dressed in the celebratory America 250 colours

but few people are walking about due to the blistering heat.

At the Great American State Fair on the National Mall

a National Guard member explained to tourists why the event

was temporarily closed.

We're having a lot of heat-related illnesses. People are just

dropping.

Medics were seen carrying a gurney into the Fair after the

event was closed for the afternoon.

Shawn Moniquea Edlund, Tourist from Oregon

Paramedics had to come in and took out 15 different people

because they collapsed under the heat. So they're not shutting

things down to be controlling. They shut them down for safety.

People go get yourself hydrated so you can come back and

enjoy this Great American Fair.

Record-breaking temperatures spread to the eastern US

from the Midwest earlier in the week due to the emergence

of a high-pressure system known as a heat dome which

traps a mass of hot air over a region and can cause humidity

to spike.

Over 185 million people, more than half the US population

were under heat alerts Friday, the National Weather Service

said, which expects the heat to peak at around 46 degrees Celsius

in parts of the country.

The heatwave is expected to continue into the weekend over the

4th of July celebrations when Americans usually

gather for barbecues, parades and fireworks displays.