A severe heatwave affecting several European countries has caused the deaths of 74 people by drowning in France since June 18, coinciding with Germany recording a new temperature record for the second consecutive day, reaching 41.5 degrees Celsius.
Laurent Nuñez, French Interior Minister, said in an interview with Le Parisien published today, Saturday, that most drowning deaths occurred in unauthorised and unmonitored bodies of water, particularly rivers, lakes and ponds, as well as in private swimming pools.
The French minister explained that these incidents were linked to thermal shock and, at times, excessive physical activity, noting that a large number of deaths caused by cardiac arrest had also been recorded.
Meanwhile, the German Weather Service, based on preliminary data, recorded a new temperature record after temperatures peaked at 41.5 degrees Celsius in the town of Möckern-Drewitz in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The highest ever temperature of 41.3C was recorded by Germany provisionally in the south-western city of Saarbrücken, just over the border from France, which this week endured its hottest temperatures three days in a row, reported BBC.
Europe's deadly June heatwave has moved slowly north and east, and Belgian forecaster David Dehenauw said unofficially that 40C had been recorded in Kleine Brogel, close to the Dutch border.
A top temperature of 39.4C was recorded in the southern Dutch province of Limburg. Meanwhile, in the UK a provisional June record of 37.1C was recorded at Cavendish in Suffolk.
At least 150 million people across the European continent were facing temperatures higher than 35C on Friday, according to calculations by the AFP news agency.
Health authorities across Europe were on high alert on Friday as a killer heatwave progressed across the continent.
From Britain and France to Germany, Italy, Austria and Serbia, Europe sizzled under a record-breaking ball of heat rolling across the region. Scientists said the heatwave was the worst recorded for Europe, where the climate is changing faster than anywhere else, Reuters reported.
Temperatures were probably past their peak in France and Britain, where records for June have been broken. But in Italy, the heat was expected to intensify into the weekend, bringing the summer’s first readings of 40 degrees Celsius.
Extreme heat caused the surface of the A2 motorway in eastern Germany to buckle and rupture over several lanes on Thursday evening, according to the BZ newspaper, damaging up to 30 vehicles, leaving two people with minor injuries and forcing the highway to be closed.
Britain's Met Office extended a red heat alert into Friday for a large area of southern England, the first time such warnings have been issued for three consecutive days.
A rare 'code red' alert for extreme heat was issued for almost the whole of the Netherlands and many schools were closed as temperatures up to 40 C were expected.
