France’s public health authority announced Friday that deaths rose by nearly a third during the most intense week of last month’s record-breaking heat wave, with at least 2,000 more fatalities recorded compared to the week before — a period when temperatures were already rising and emergency rooms were already being overwhelmed with heat-related cases.
Public Health France released updated figures that are double what the agency initially estimated. Just last Sunday, the agency had reported at least 1,000 additional deaths, a figure that only accounted for three of the most extreme days of heat. The newer numbers now cover the full week.
In the French capital, funeral service directors have reported serious difficulty finding storage space for bodies ahead of burial or cremation, with some mortuaries reporting they were at capacity and turning bodies away.
The updated figures cover the week of June 22 through June 28 — the period during which France experienced its hottest days ever recorded, with peak daytime and nighttime temperature records broken in cities and towns across the country. The extreme heat also set records in numerous other parts of Europe.
Public Health France reported a preliminary death count of 8,973 for that week, while cautioning that the data remains incomplete. That figure represents a 29% increase over the 6,948 deaths recorded during the previous week of June 15 through June 21, when the heat wave was just beginning. The difference between those two numbers — 2,025 deaths — is considered the excess mortality from one week to the next, across all causes and all age groups.
At Paris-Saclay Hospital, a wave of patients suffering from heat-related illness began arriving on June 20, according to Dr. Nicolas Gonzales, head of the emergency department, who spoke with The Associated Press. He described treating patients — ranging from children to elderly people living alone — for heart attacks, dehydration, kidney failure, and other heat-related conditions.
Public Health France noted that deaths in private homes saw the most dramatic increase, surging 91% compared to the prior week. Deaths in care facilities for older residents climbed 37%, while hospital deaths rose by nearly 20%.
The Paris region was among the hardest hit areas, with deaths increasing by nearly 63% from one week to the next.
The agency acknowledged that its numbers likely undercount the actual death toll due to the incomplete nature of the data collected. “The mortality will as a consequence be higher than these first figures,” the agency stated.
