At least 40 people have drowned in France over the last five days as the country endured a scorching heat wave, S\u00e9bastien Lecornu, the country\u2019s prime minister, said at an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Most of the drowning victims were young, many of them teenagers, and swimming in unsupervised areas. Mr. Lecornu called the drownings a \u201ctragic scourge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marina Ferrari, a minister whose responsibilities include young people, said in an interview on French radio on Tuesday that the drownings were mostly in bodies of water such as lakes or canals.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring heat waves like this,\u201d she said, \u201cit\u2019s no small matter to go swimming in areas that aren\u2019t supervised.\u201d<\/p>\n
France is in the middle of an intense heat wave<\/a> over much of Europe that began in the middle of last week. Forecasters have said that Paris could hit 40 degrees Celsius this week (104 degrees Fahrenheit), not far from its record. Parts of central France could see highs of 43 degrees Celsius (around 109 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n More than half of the country is under a red alert for heat wave conditions, the most severe. France\u2019s weather agency, M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France<\/a>, said that it expected \u201cexceptionally high temperatures, both day and night.\u201d The temperatures have the potential to have a \u201cstrong health impact.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll the records, locally or nationally, are being broken every day or night when it comes to temperatures,\u201d Mr. Lecornu said.<\/p>\n From Monday to Tuesday, France recorded its hottest night since measurements began in 1947, M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France said. An average of readings from 30 stations across France reached 21.6 Celsius, almost 71 degrees Fahrenheit, according to preliminary figures.<\/p>\n The current heat wave in Europe is the result of a \u201cheat dome,\u201d<\/a> a strong area of high pressure that allows heat to build over a region.<\/p>\n According to M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France these stubborn, high-pressure systems can block or divert passing weather fronts, leading to conditions with few clouds and little rainfall<\/p>\n For France, this is the second heat wave in about a month, after record-breaking temperatures in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n