France recorded at least 5,700 more deaths than usual during historic June heat wave

At least 5,700 more people than usual died in France last month, as the country endured a historic heat wave, French public health officials said. That figure represented a sharp increase in the estimated death toll nationwide from June and early July’s record temperatures.

Public Health France said regions hit by the heat from June 17 to July 2 recorded 21,674 deaths from all causes. But without a heat wave, those same regions would have been expected to have seen far fewer deaths, or 15,910, based on statistical modeling using data from previous years, it said.

The difference between expected and actual deaths — a total of 5,764 — are therefore considered to be “excess” deaths during the heat wave, the agency said.

It said the excess mortality, with 36% more deaths that would normally have been expected, was the highest from any heat wave since 2003. A historic heat wave that year caused an estimated 15,000 deaths in France.

France registered its hottest-ever days on June 24 and June 25 this year — with a national average of 86 degrees Fahrenheit — as well as record heat at night and peak temperatures that soared well above 104 degrees in many places.

Just over half of the unexpected deaths occurred during and in the immediate wake of that hottest period, over three days from June 25 to June 27, the public health agency said.

“This unprecedented episode, characterized by its early onset, intensity, and duration, exposed nearly the entire population to extreme heat during a period when school and work activities were still in full swing,” the agency noted.

There were 40 deaths from drowning recorded in France over just one week in June, as people turned to swimming in hopes of finding relief from the heat. 

All told, across Europe, extreme temperatures that hit exceptionally early and hard this year saw well over 10,000 more deaths at the height of the heat wave than would normally have been expected, according to figures that are still emerging across the continent.

Throughout Western Europe, it was the hottest June on record, according to a report by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Climate expert Samantha Burgess said in a statement that the report’s findings “underscored how profoundly the climate is changing,” adding that skyrocketing temperatures “reflect a climate system continuing to accumulate heat.”

As the end of last month approached, the World Health Organization chief announced that Europe had reported more than 1,300 heat-related deaths in just over a week, many of which were reported in France. And French officials told CBS News at the time that they had recorded roughly 1,000 excess deaths from heat exposure, primarily in elderly residents.

In France, the Paris region appears to have been hardest hit, recording 1,999 unexpected deaths — around 80% more than would otherwise have been anticipated without a heat wave, the French health agency said.

Funeral service directors in Paris said they struggled to find places to store bodies before burial or cremation, with some mortuaries saying they were full and having to turn bodies away.

Nearly half of the more than 21,600 people who died passed away in hospitals, which wrestled with surges of patients suffering from heat-related ailments. About a third died at home and the rest were mostly deaths in care homes for older people, the agency said.

The latest estimated death toll, which the agency said will be updated later in the year with more complete data, was sharply higher than initial figures it had given. It had previously reported around 2,000 additional deaths from all causes for the week of June 22 to June 28, the peak in France of the heat wave that also broke temperature records in many other parts of Europe.

Experts caution that it takes a while for a full picture to emerge, and that many heat-related deaths will never formally be recorded as such. For example, a heart attack, which can be triggered by extreme heat exposure, especially in people who are older or have underlying health issues, may be listed on a death certificate simply as a heart attack.