LOS ANGELES (Xinhua) -- The death toll of possibly heat-related deaths in California rose to 141 on Friday as heat rescinded in the state.

State authorities said more than 40 deaths were confirmed on Friday alone, raising the death toll to 141.

Most of the dead were old and sick people, or transients unable to seek shelter from the oppressive heat, authorities said.

Many of the deaths were reported in the Los Angeles County and the Central Valley counties of Merced and Stanislaus, where coroners struggled to cope with dead bodies.

Officials said the length of the heat wave, with its unusually high temperatures, has created deadly conditions for those who are vulnerable or have no escape.

California has been suffering from unrelenting heat in the past three weeks that pushed temperatures to record levels in many cities. The high temperature in some areas hit 115 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius), matching records set in 1931, according to the National Weather Service.

The heat wave cut power to more than 1 million customers in California, largely because of equipment failures, but power regulators avoided the mandatory blackouts that marked the state's power crisis of 2000 and 2001.