Europe’s record-breaking heat wave has been linked to more than 1,300 excess deaths since 21 June, the World Health Organization said Sunday, as governments across the continent rushed to close monuments, shorten races and evacuate fire zones.
France alone has recorded around 1,000 more deaths than expected just since Wednesday, French health officials reported. Across Europe, “more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded since 21 June linked to high temperatures in Europe,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote.
At least 191 million people were forecast to endure temperatures of 35C or higher on Sunday, and 381 million were set to see the mercury pass 30C. Tedros described heat stress as a “silent killer”, noting that European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for such temperatures.
Germany reported 99 drownings in June, its worst such toll in more than two decades, with 40 of the victims under 30 and more than 90% of them male. In France, the sports minister said drowning had killed 131 people since 19 June.
In Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay all announced early closures, and Tour de France organisers shortened Sunday’s stage by 30km because of the heat, the first time in the race’s history. Germany’s main public health institute has tallied at least 5,120 heat-related deaths so far this year, most of them in June.
In southern Spain, a wildfire that left at least 12 people dead was contained, letting about 1,500 evacuees begin returning home. Tedros called the “once-in-a-generation” heat wave a sign of a warming world, noting that Europe is heating at twice the global average.
Sources
- More than 1,300 excess deaths recorded in Europe heat wave: WHO
- Germany records nearly 100 drowning deaths, many of them young men, in June heatwave | Europe | The Guardian
