A Chicago woman and a west suburban woman died of heat-related causes over the weekend, marking the first heat-related deaths of the season and the first in nearly two years in Cook County.
Ellean Williams, 69, died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 2:02 a.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Williams, of the 4800 block of West Cortez, suffered from heart disease and heat stress, an autopsy found. Her death was ruled natural.
Her death was the second during last week’s heat wave, both occurring within one hour of each other.
About 20 minutes earlier, 70-year-old Darlene Lipske died at La Grange Memorial Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office.
An autopsy found Lipske, who lived in the 3600 block of Maple Avenue in Brookfield, died of heart disease and heat stress, according to the medical examiner’s office.
On Saturday, the day before the two women’s deaths, temperatures reached 93 degrees in the Chicago area.
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They are the first two heat-related deaths of the summer in the county. In 2014, there were no heat-related deaths, and in 2013, there were at least five.
