1,500 succumb to France heatwaves

A boy cools off under water jets at a fountain in Montpellier southern France last June when some 1.500 died due to extreme heat. (AFP)

Two heatwaves that hit France this summer claimed more than 1,500 more lives, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said Sunday.

But that toll was significantly lower than the disastrous summer of 2003, when an estimated 15,000 people died during an August heatwave.

“We have 1,500 deaths recorded more than the average for these months, so that’s 10 times fewer deaths than the 2003 heatwave,” Buzyn told French radio.

This year’s heatwaves hit France in June and July, with a new record temperature of 46 degrees Celsius (114.8 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in the south on 28 June.

While the 2003 heatwave lasted 20 days in all, this year’s lasted for 18, in two separate heatwaves, the second covering a large part of France, Buzyn added.

The authorities’ preventive measures helped keep the death rate well below the high numbers experienced in 2003, she added.

The 2003 heatwave was the deadliest recorded in France, with the central and Paris regions hardest hit.