A heat wave in east China have turned surfaces into griddles capable in some cases of cooking raw food with the power of the blazing sun.

A man in Hangzhou reported he had burn injuries on the soles of his feet after walking outside barefooted yesterday. [Photo/Weibo.com]

A truck carrying live fish rolled over on a highway in Zhenjiang City in Jiangsu Province yesterday afternoon. Nearly 15,000 kilograms of fish thrashed about, but soon most of them looked like they had been cooked, news pictures showed.

Also yesterday, a man in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, reported he had burn injuries on the soles of his feet after walking outside barefooted.

In Shanghai, a slice of pork was "cooked" medium well after it was put on the pavement downtown for about 10 minutes, TV news reported yesterday.

"I felt like my hip was about to be set on fire after I sat down for a second," a pedestrian said.

The extreme heat has claimed two lives in the past few days as the city heads for its hottest July in 140 years. The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau issued an orange alert for heat this morning, forecasting today's maximum temperature to peak at up to 39 degrees Celsius.