France reports about 1,000 excess deaths in European heatwave
France’s public health agency reported roughly 1,000 excess deaths as of June 28 from the heatwave that has gripped Europe since June 20, and warned the toll will rise as more data comes in, Al Jazeera reported . Most of the deaths involved people aged 65 and older.
At least 191 million people faced temperatures of 35°C (95°F) or higher across Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Austria and western Ukraine. Germany, Denmark and the Czech Republic set preliminary national records on June 27, and Germany logged its warmest night in nearly 150 years.
The immediate cause is an “omega block,” a stalled high-pressure pattern that traps hot air over the continent, but scientists assessed that the event would have been “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change. Excess-death figures lag the weather itself, so the French count — and totals elsewhere in Europe — are likely to climb in the coming weeks.