![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-22T221857Z_874591579_RC25ZLAKSBPY_RTRMADP_3_EUROPE-WEATHER-FRANCE-HEAT-1782196628.jpg\")
People cool off in the Trocadero Fountain next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris [Abdul Saboor\/Reuters]<\/p>\nAt least 40 \u2060people have drowned in France while swimming in unsupervised areas to seek relief from a heatwave gripping the country and other parts of Europe.<\/p>\n
Speaking after a crisis meeting on Tuesday as France recorded its hottest-ever night, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the death toll since Thursday was mainly young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the first victims of the crisis we are facing,\u201d he said, calling the fatalities a \u201ctragic scourge\u201d on a day when temperatures in most of the country are forecast to reach about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n
His comments came after Sports Minister Marina \u2060Ferrari told France \u2060Inter radio that \u201cto go swimming in unauthorised areas during a \u200cheatwave is not something to take lightly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Separately, local authorities said the heatwave was the most likely reason for the deaths of two children aged two and four who were found unconscious in a car outside their home in Carpentras in southeastern France.<\/p>\n
Three more people aged 80 to 95 died in the Bordeaux region from heat-related health issues, local official Sophie Brocas told France TV.<\/p>\n
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), warned that the next few days posed \u201cserious health risks\u201d for Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor thousands of people across Europe, extreme temperatures, without action, can quickly become a matter of life and death,\u201d Mary Friel, the IFRC\u2019s senior climate policy officer, told a press conference in Geneva.<\/p>\n
\u201cIFRC is urging people to take this heatwave seriously and to look out for those most at risk to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hottest night<\/p>\n
The Meteo-France weather agency said the country registered its hottest night from Monday to Tuesday since records began in 1947.<\/p>\n
The national temperature indicator, an average of readings from 30 stations across France, reached 21.6C (70.9F), according to preliminary figures taken on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
The previous record was 21.4C, set on July 25, 2019.<\/p>\n
The heatwave smashed temperature records in multiple cities, including Bordeaux and Poitiers, and strained power grids and public services. The national weather service placed 54 areas of France, a country without widespread air conditioning, under a red heatwave alert while schools closed early or adjusted timetables to protect students.<\/p>\n
The Louvre in Paris, the world\u2019s most visited museum, said it would close two hours early at 4 pm local time (14:00 GMT) from Wednesday to Saturday due to the intense temperatures.<\/p>\n
According to the museum\u2019s management, the heatwave has made \u201cvisiting and working conditions difficult during the hottest hours of the day\u201d, adding that \u201cit is at the end of the day that heat builds up most, exacerbated by high visitor numbers\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Eiffel Tower management also announced it would close at 4 pm on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThursday will once again be a sweltering day, with temperatures remaining just as high. On Friday, a gradual drop is expected to begin from the Atlantic coast,\u201d Meteo-France said.<\/p>\n
People cool off in the Trocadero Fountain next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris [Abdul Saboor\/Reuters]<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in Europe, Britain\u2019s Met Office warned on Monday that a four-day heatwave could push temperatures above 39C (102F) in parts of the country, easily breaking the June record of 35.6C (96F) set in 1957 and 1976.<\/p>\n
Just weeks earlier, the United Kingdom had recorded its highest May temperature on record.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty-six degrees is going to be disgusting,\u201d data scientist Lewis Jennings told the Reuters news agency in London. Forecasters said temperatures would run 5-10C (9-18F) above normal with northern areas seeing even larger anomalies.<\/p>\n
Dozens of schools in England also said they would close early on Tuesday and remain shut for two more days.<\/p>\n
Spain also saw extreme heat. San Sebastian in the traditionally cooler north was set to reach 40C (104F), more than double the city\u2019s historic average for June 22, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.<\/p>\n
In Italy, the health ministry issued its highest-level alert for 15 cities, with authorities taking measures to curtail work in some sectors.<\/p>\n
The monitor showed Europe as the continent furthest from its historic norm on Monday.<\/p>\n
The extreme heat was driven by an \u201cOmega block\u201d weather pattern, named for its resemblance to the shape of the Greek letter. The system has trapped a bulge of hot air over the continent while cooler air sits on either side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s drawing warm air up from North Africa, from the Sahara, and that\u2019s why we have this really intense \u2060heat. It\u2019s very slow moving, and it means there\u2019s kind of no wind, no breeze for respite,\u201d Clair Barnes, a research associate in extreme weather and climate at Imperial College in London, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Heatwaves and storms \u2060are being intensified by climate change, pushing temperatures higher and causing more rainfall, she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least 40 \u2060people have drowned in France while swimming in unsupervised areas to seek relief from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2848,5660,295,3456,637,43,84,44,7413,834,41,39,42,40,127,1133],"class_list":["post-756427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-climate","tag-climate-crisis","tag-environment","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-switzerland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-kingdom","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}