June heat grips Europe as France scrambles to respond

The latest heatwave has heightened fears about the impact of climate change-driven extreme weather on vulnerable people, forcing the cancellation of outdoor events, causing transport disruption and closing schools.

It comes just a month after a previous spell of unseasonably high temperatures scorched western Europe, with scientists warning that increasingly frequent, prolonged and intense periods of extreme heat are a clear indicator of human-driven global warming.

France broke a June temperature record as more than 1,350 schools were forced to close. Average daytime and night-time temperatures reached 29.2C on Monday, surpassing the previous high set on 30 June 2025, according to provisional Météo France data, while the central village of Châteaumeillant recorded a sweltering 43.3C.

France's scorching weekend heat leads to elderly deaths and spate of drownings

It expanded its heatwave red alert to 54 of the country's 96 mainland departments for Tuesday, affecting around 39 million people, according to an estimate by French news agency AFP.

French authorities blamed the extreme weather for the deaths of two children, aged two and four, found on Monday in their family car in a residential parking lot in the southern town of Carpentras.

Disruption in France

Forty people have drowned in France since temperatures soared last Thursday, the Prime Minister Lecornu said on Tuesday, as he gathered ministers for a special meeting.

He referred to a "sad scourge of drownings," which "primarily affects young people." They are the "first victims of the crisis we are experiencing," he added.

French Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari told the France Inter broadcaster Tuesday that around 20 people alone had drowned since the beginning of the weekend, up from an intitial toll of 13.

She urged swimmers flocking to the country's waters in a bid to beat the heat to respect safety rules.

The day before, three elderly people died in their residence in Gironde in the southwest as a result of the high temperatures. A man dives into the water in the Canal Saint-Martin as temperatures rise during a heatwave affecting a large part of the country, in Paris, France, 22 June, 2026.

The head of the Ile-de-France greater Paris region warned commuters of public transport disruption due to the heat.

 "The transport network comes under severe strain in periods of extreme heat... railways cannot withstand temperatures above 50 degrees," Valerie Pecresse, told journalists.

"That is why we have advised all passengers who can to postpone their journeys, particularly vulnerable people, and for everyone who is able to work from home to do so."

Meanwhile, a nuclear plant in southwestern France switched off a reactor because cooling water drawn from a nearby river had become too warm, a spokeswoman said.

The Golfech plant near Toulouse is cooled by the Garonne river but the water had warmed beyond the safe level of 28C, she told AFP.

Elsewhere in Europe, forecasts are also set to break records and wreak havoc as authorities jostle to protect vulnerable people.

European heatwave drives world's second-hottest May on record

Belgium's heatwave is forecast to last a week with temperatures "the hottest ever recorded", warned David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute. Some schools reduced classes to half a day.

United Kingdom

The UK's meteorological office issued the highest level of heat warning for parts of central and southern England for Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures in the shade potentially rising as high as 40C in some places.

"An exceptional spell of hot and humid weather is expected across this region" covering London, Birmingham, Bath and other areas of England, the Met Office said Monday, a month after Britain broke its May temperature record.

"It is now likely the current highest temperature on record for June will be broken, this being 35.6C recorded in Southampton in June 1976 and Camden Square in June 1957," the forecaster said.

Schools in southwest England said they were planning to finish the day early and a train company said it was cancelling or changing some of its services out of London because of the "severe weather".

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Italy's heatwave alert

Italy's health ministry declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome for Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.

During a red alert – the highest level – the ministry advises people to eat light, stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day and sprinkle themselves with cool water.

In the capital, the transport authority admitted that the batteries on the city's new electric buses are running out before the end of the drivers' shifts because of more intensive use of air conditioning.

"We are organising the service to face up to this unusual heatwave," the Atac transport authority was quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily as saying.

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Spain and Portugal

In Spain's capital, Madrid, where temperatures peaked at 40C on Monday, city hall set up a "climate refuge" for homeless and vulnerable people, open between midday and 8:00 pm, which provides water, food and hygiene facilities.

In the southern city of Cordoba, doctor Clarisa Arismendi, 32, was trying to take a break from the heat.

"Eating an ice cream because it's horrible, it feels catastrophic. I don't know what temperature we're at, but it feels horrendous... and I'm from Mexico," she told AFP.

Portugal's weather agency is expecting Tuesday to be the peak of the heatwave in the Iberian nation.

Germany deaths  

Germany saw a spike in fatal swimming accidents, with authorities reporting five deaths over the weekend.

Two men aged 20 and 22 drowned in lakes in Bavaria, and a 79-year-old woman died in the Baltic Sea. Other fatal swimming accidents occurred in lakes in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Police said Monday that several heat-stricken passengers were treated by emergency services at Frankfurt airport the previous day after their plane was held for more than an hour on the apron before take-off.

(with AFP)