55 people have drowned since the heatwave gripped France, according to Sports Minister Marina Ferrari. The majority of the drownings have occurred in “unauthorized or unsupervised areas.”
"We fear that the situation could worsen," she tells Franceinfo, calling the death toll "dramatic."
Several major events have been canceled in France, including this weekend's Pride parades in Paris and Lyon. The announcement comes after police requested it.
However, the Pride celebration in Budapest, Hungary, is expected to take place as planned, in near 40-degree heat.
“Died all alone”
Overburdened French hospitals are struggling with a surge of patients suffering from heat-related illnesses. Staffing levels would need to double during heatwaves like the current one, said emergency physician and member of parliament Philippe Juvin, head of the emergency department at the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris.
"The corridors are full of mostly elderly patients," Juvin tells BFMTV, but at the same time warns that not everyone will even manage to get to the hospital:
"In the coming days, we will find people who have died completely alone in their homes."
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is appealing to the French to take “individual responsibility” and stop exercising in the heat - and to show solidarity with their fellow humans.
"Call an elderly relative, reach out to an isolated neighbor, follow a frail loved one to a cool place," he writes on X.
Heat record
On Friday, at least 150 million Europeans will endure temperatures above 35 degrees, according to an analysis by the AFP news agency.
Both in Switzerland and the UK - where London's ambulance service noted a "historic number of life-threatening emergencies" on Wednesday - heat records for the month of June have been shattered.
In Spain, more than 200 deaths between Sunday and Wednesday have been linked to the extreme heat, writes the Spanish news agency EFE.
The heat wave, which has gripped southwestern Europe during the week, is now also pushing up temperatures in the Balkans, where several weather warnings have been issued, writes AFP.
Temperatures of up to 39 degrees are expected starting Friday in some parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
