Southern US swelters in brutal heat wave

HOUSTON, Texas: A dangerous and prolonged heat wave blanketed large parts of the southern United States on Tuesday, buckling highways and forcing people to take shelter indoors in what scientists called a climate-change supercharged event.

Excessive heat warnings were in place from Arizona in the southwest all the way to Alabama in the southeast, with southern and central Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley worst hit, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.