France has reported 1,000 excess deaths linked to the record-breaking heatwave sweeping Europe, with health authorities warning the toll is expected to rise as more fatalities are confirmed from care homes and private residences.
The French public health agency said most of the heat-related deaths involved older people, while scientists described the heatwave, which began on June 20, as the most severe ever recorded in Europe.
Temperatures climbed to 40°C in parts of the continent on Sunday, setting records in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria. The extreme conditions have disrupted transport, strained electricity supplies and placed healthcare systems under mounting pressure.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that 150 million people were living under extreme heat, adding that “hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling”.
Scientists said the event would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, which has made this week’s exceptionally warm night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than two decades ago.
The heat has also affected Europe’s rivers, reducing water levels and increasing temperatures. Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant again cut output because of the warming Danube River, while Italy’s Po River has shrunk enough to allow seawater to penetrate up to 18 kilometres inland, threatening agriculture and protected wetlands.
Storms later swept through parts of France, bringing cooler conditions but also causing power outages, with electricity distributor Enedis reporting around 36,000 households without electricity on Sunday afternoon.
Meteorologists expect cooler weather to spread across much of Western Europe this week, although the heatwave is forecast to shift further into Central Europe and the Balkans. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist warned the health impact would continue even after temperatures subside, saying, “The episode is not finished.”
