Forty people have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas across France since June 18, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday, as a ferocious early summer heatwave pushed temperatures toward 43C. “There is a tragic scourge of drownings,” Lecornu said. “The latest figures we’ve received are 40 deaths since 18 June. Most of the victims are young people.”
Record heat and red alerts
Lecornu was preparing to chair a crisis meeting with ministers to address the heatwave, which has left parts of western France bracing for temperatures of up to 43C (109F). “We’re experiencing an episode of exceptional intensity,” he said. “Every day and every night, local and national temperature records are being broken.”
Météo-France, the national weather service, said 54 departments had been placed under a red heatwave alert as “oppressive and exhausting” heat smothered about half the country. Overnight temperatures were the hottest since record-keeping began in 1947.
National heat index record
Early Tuesday, France’s national heat index, an average of day and night-time highs measured at 30 weather stations across France, reached a record 21.6C, according to preliminary figures. The previous record of 21.4C was set on 25 July 2019.
