WEATHER THREAT
SEVERE storms and life-threatening heat will hit the US this week after tragedy struck when a boy was found dead in a hot car.
A five-year-old boy died on Monday after reportedly being left in the car for two to three hours.
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Police told ABC13 that his mother reportedly thought he unbuckled himself, so she went inside her home to prepare for a birthday party, without realizing the child was still strapped to his car seat.
The mother had just returned from the store to gather items for her eight-year-old daughter's party.
The boy knew how to unbuckle himself, but the family was using a loaner Porsche, which Harris County Texas Police think the child may not have known how to exit.
The mom reportedly did not realize where he was until she called his name, hours after getting home.
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She frantically ran to the car, only to discover the child still strapped to his car seat.
The family called 911 at around 2pm on Monday, but the young boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities have not confirmed if the mother will face charges.
A cause of death has not been determined, but the police say it was likely a heat stroke.
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Investigators were seen outside the family’s suburban home questioning people inside.
Texas Child Protective Services told ABC 13 they had begun an investigation, as they do with any child death.
Temperatures in Harris County were upwards of 100 degrees yesterday.
This comes as record heat could hit the south and the central United States this week, with temperatures expected to hit as high as over 100 degrees, and 10 to 25 degrees above average, according to Weather.com.
Severe weather, consisting of mostly heavy rain is expected to hit the central US today, and the mid-Atlantic and Northeast tomorrow, it added.
According to the National Traffic Safety Administration, over 900 children have died of heatstroke since 1998, because they were left or trapped in a car.
Twenty-one children died of vehicular heat stroke last year.
A child’s body temperature, which rises three to five times faster than adults, can become deadly if it reaches 107 degrees.
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A heat stroke can begin at 104 degrees.
Exports say you should get into the habit of always getting your vehicle from front to back whenever you leave the car with your child inside.