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As much of US swelters, here are 5 worst heat waves of past 30 years

Many Americans across the US were feeling the heat Monday, but how hot is it? Here is a look at the five deadliest US heat waves/droughts since the worst recorded since 1980.

4. Summer 1998

J. Pat Carter/AP/File
Argiculture Secretary Dan Glickman speaks at a corn farm outside Newcastle, Okla., on July 28, 1998. The corn stalks should be seven to eight feet tall with the mature cobs full of corn. Instead, many cobs, like the one in the foreground, have no corn.

  • By David Karas Contributor

At least 200 deaths and as much as $11.3 billion in damages ensued after a severe heat wave struck the nation, particularly the swath from Texas and Oklahoma eastward to North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Cattle died and crops withered, as ranchers and farmers experienced particularly heavy financial losses. The same summer made the record books for severe flooding in China and other parts of the United States; hurricane Bonnie, meanwhile, struck North Carolina and Virginia. The combined worldwide death toll that summer exceeded 3,000.

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