France heatwave deaths rise to 40, many from drownings

Extreme heat in France turned swimming spots into death traps as 40 people drowned since June 18, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said after a crisis cabinet meeting. Officials said many of the victims went into unsupervised waters to cool off, a pattern that has made the heatwave more dangerous than a simple stretch of bad weather.

Sports Minister Marina Ferrari said there had been around 20 drownings since the weekend, and many of the dead were young people. The spike in drownings has exposed how quickly public risk rises when temperatures soar: people head to rivers, lakes and other open water in search of relief, often in places without lifeguards or basic safety controls.

The heatwave has spread far beyond the waterways. Météo-France placed 54 of mainland France’s 96 departments on red alert, a warning covering about 39 million people, while the country’s provisional average temperature for June reached 29.2C, the highest June figure on record. Temperatures in parts of France were forecast to reach around 40C on Tuesday, with some local highs expected to hit 44C, and more than 1,350 schools were closed as the heat disrupted daily life across the country.

The toll has also been measured in lives lost away from the water. France recorded at least 18 heat-related deaths in the same spell, including two children found in a hot car in Carpentras and three elderly people, showing that the danger has taken several forms at once. At Golfech, the nuclear plant cut output because river-water temperatures were too high for safe cooling, a reminder that the heatwave has strained infrastructure as well as health systems.

The crisis has rippled across Europe, with Britain, Italy and Spain also hit by extreme temperatures and related disruption to schools and transport. In France, the combination of red alerts, school closures, drowning deaths and heat-related fatalities has made clear that climate extremes are now producing cascading public-safety emergencies, not just uncomfortable weather.