France reports 1,000 deaths from record heat

People in Paris try to escape record heat

(Image credit: Ditmar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

Europe’s record-shattering heat wave began shifting eastward on Sunday as Public Health France estimated that more than 1,000 people died due to the heat and humidity. The number of excess deaths since the heat dome descended over France on June 20 is expected to rise as more death certificates come in from homes and eldercare facilities, the agency said. More than 80% of the heat-related deaths so far were among people 65 and older.

“Right now, 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media. “The ‘once-in-a-generation’ heat wave is now occurring nearly annually.” Scientists with World Weather Attribution said last week that Europe’s record temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. “I’m getting hundreds of calls,” Paris mortician Zouhaeir Hertelli told The Associated Press, but “we’re really full, full, full.”

Europe’s heat wave has already “disrupted power generation, damaged infrastructure and overwhelmed healthcare systems,” Reuters said. On Sunday it started moving toward Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. A “dangerous and prolonged heat wave” could also “reach record-breaking levels” in the U.S. Midwest and East Coast this week, The New York Times said. But about 90% of U.S. homes have air conditioning, versus only 20% in Europe.

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