France heat wave turns deadly as 54 departments face red alert

Paris,UPDATED: Jun 23, 2026 16:52 IST

Millions of people across France woke up drenched in sweat on Tuesday after another night of intense heat, with much of the country facing extreme and exceptional temperatures. The heat wave has also turned deadly, with 40 people reported drowned over the past five days.

Temperatures are expected to stay high through the day and night, with France’s national weather service Meteo France placing 54 departments, about half the country, under a red heat wave alert. Across the English Channel, Britain has also issued an extreme heat warning, with forecasters saying temperature records for June could be broken.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said after a crisis meeting that the 40 people who died by drowning since last Thursday were mainly young people. In a country without widespread air conditioning, the heat is continuing to affect schools, trains and sporting events.

"Sunshine continues to dominate across France, maintaining oppressive and exhausting heat throughout the country," Meteo France said. The weather service said extreme conditions were expected to continue at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius in many towns. "Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year," it said.

Meteo France said the heat wave was exceptionally intense and had arrived very early in the summer, though its duration remained uncertain. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in more than half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in flats and retirement homes without air conditioning. France introduced a heat watch warning system after that disaster.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The World Health Organisation’s Europe office said this month that more than 200,000 people across Europe had died from heat-related causes over the last four years, and that most of those deaths were preventable. Above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.

In Britain, the Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday. Forecasts suggest June’s all-time daily temperature record could be broken, with temperatures of around 37 degrees Celsius expected in southern England and up to 35 degrees Celsius in south-east Wales. The peak of the heat wave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach at least 39 degrees Celsius, before conditions ease by Friday, the weather agency said.

The EU monitoring agency said 2024 was the hottest year on record both in Europe and globally, and that the continent saw its second-highest number of heat stress days. Scientists have warned that human-caused climate change is worsening the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in south-eastern Europe, even as France and Britain face a fresh spell of extreme temperatures.

With PTI Inputs

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