France recorded 1,000 excess deaths during a record-breaking heatwave that has gripped several European countries, the country’s public health agency said on Sunday (June 28), according to Reuters. The agency also warned that the real number is likely higher.
Detailing the initial number of excess deaths, the country’s health agency Santé Publique said that most of the deaths involved the elderly. The agency cautioned that the death toll is likely to increase as more data on deaths in residential care centers and homes becomes available.
The intense heat wave that began on June 20 has disrupted public life in Europe, breaking all previous records, disrupting power generation, increasing health risks, and damaging infrastructure.
According to scientists, this heatwave was the most severe ever recorded in Europe, where the climate is changing faster than the global average.
Meanwhile, the good news is that the heatwave is moving east, which will give people in France some relief from the uncomfortable conditions. Heatwave advisories are still in effect in some parts of the nation’s northeast, according to the weather agency.
The country’s Health Minister Stephanie Rist told French business newspaper La Tribune that the effects of the heatwave could last for up to 10 days, even after the weather improves.
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Europeans experienced unbearable heat on Saturday (June 27), with temperatures in some areas exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking all previous records. The heatwave was not limited to France, with other countries, including Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland, seeing record high temperatures at the same time.
Reuters’s reporting contributed to this article.