European heatwave causes 1,000 excess deaths in France

According to AFP estimates, at least 191 million people are forecast to experience temperatures of at least 35C in Europe.

France’s public health agency has reported 1,000 excess deaths as an intense heatwave continues to attack Europe.

The agency, which operates under the French Ministry of Health, said on Sunday that its preliminary count of excess deaths found most of the fatalities involved older people, and it expected that the mortality rate would rise as more information was released about deaths in homes and residential care.

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The agency added that most of the deaths had involved people aged 65 and older, though the health effects of the extreme heat have affected the entire population.

Since June 20, Europeans have been experiencing an intense heatwave that has caused museums and schools to shut early.

According to estimates from the AFP news agency, at least 191 million people are forecast to experience temperatures of at least 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) in Europe on Sunday, with the heat particularly intense in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Austria and western Ukraine will also be affected.

As the heatwave moves into Eastern Europe, France’s weather agency said that extreme weather conditions had diminished in most parts of the country, but some areas in the northeast remained under a heatwave advisory.

French Health Minister Stephanie Rist told La Tribune newspaper that the impact of the heatwave could linger for up to 10 days.

“The episode is not finished,” she told broadcaster BFM.

Rising deaths

In Germany, at least seven people have died in swimming accidents over the weekend as the heatwave has sent many to lakes and rivers to cool off, the dpa news agency reported.

At least two people died in separate swimming accidents in Berlin on Saturday, German police said. In another incident, a group in a rubber dinghy found an unresponsive man in Jungfernheideteich, a man-made lake in a public park in western Berlin.

Germany has been gripped by extreme heat for several days, with temperatures reaching or exceeding 40C (104F) in many places.

Moreover, the temperature in Kubschuetz in the east did not fall below 29.4C during Saturday night, according to the German weather service (DWD), making it the warmest night since records began almost 150 years ago.

On Saturday, preliminary all-time temperature records were set in Germany, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

According to scientists, the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without man-made climate change.

But the recent intense heat was caused by a phenomenon known as an omega block, caused by a weather pattern that traps a bulging mass of hot air over regions for extended periods.

With most of the extreme heat to wane over the weekend, heavy thunderstorms are expected.