France keeps heat emergency plan at highest level as new wave looms

France kept its health emergency response plan, ORSAN EPI-CLIM, at its highest level as officials braced for another possible surge in heat. The health ministry unlocked a special 100 million euro fund to help hospitals cool facilities and meet the extra demand created by the extreme temperatures.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered the system to remain on full alert for the coming days, even after the worst of the heat had passed in much of the country. Météo-France pegged the national peak at Tuesday, June 23, when France recorded its hottest day on record, overtaking the benchmark set in 2003.

The heatwave began on June 20 and spread strain across health services, schools, transport and cultural sites. Many monthly and all-time records were broken, while 72 French departments were under red heat alerts at one point, and temperatures climbed above 40C in parts of the country.

Public Health France put the heatwave death toll at about 1,000 excess deaths. Roughly 85% of those deaths involved people aged 65 and older, and fatalities rose in hospitals, nursing homes and homes. The sharpest rise in home deaths came after June 24, especially in Île-de-France.

Emergency-room visits and SOS Médecins calls multiplied several times during the episode. France’s weather service forecast more storms as the intense heat eased late in the month, with the far southeast remaining the hottest part of the country.

The World Health Organization says the WHO European Region is warming at about twice the global average, heat stress is its leading climate-related killer, and heat-related mortality has risen by more than 30% over the past 20 years. Météo-France recorded France’s spring 2026 as the hottest ever recorded in the country.