France reports 40 drownings as extreme June heatwave grips Europe
At least 40 people have drowned in France since last Thursday as a record-breaking heatwave continues to bake much of Europe, pushing temperatures above 40C and triggering red alerts, school closures and widespread transport cancellations.
A historic June heatwave
France broke two all-time June records in a single day. On Monday the national average daytime temperature hit 29.2C, eclipsing the previous high set on 30 June 2025, while the same night recorded an average minimum of 21.6C, the hottest night ever measured in June. Local thermometers peaked even higher (Châteaumeillant reached 43.3C) and Météo France warned that parts of the south-west could touch 44C on Tuesday. Weather historian Max Herrera summed up the scale of the event.
We won't count the records, we will list the few lucky ones that don't break records.
- Heatwave conditions set in across western Europe
- France records hottest June day (29.2°C avg) and hottest night (21.6°C)
- French PM reports 40 drownings since start of heat; red alerts expanded; Italy issues red alert for 15 cities
- UK red warning comes into force; Germany expects temperatures above 40°C
Drowning toll and heat-related deaths
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday that 40 people had drowned since the heatwave began last Thursday, calling it a "sad scourge" that mainly affects young people. Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari had earlier put the weekend drowning count alone at around 20, urging swimmers to stay away from unsupervised rivers, canals and lakes.
To go swimming in unauthorised areas, during a heatwave, is not something to take lightly.
The heat also claimed lives on land. Two brothers aged two and four were found dead on Monday inside their family car in Carpentras, and three elderly residents died from heat-related causes at their home in Gironde.
- Drownings
- 40 deaths
- Elderly heat-related
- 3 deaths
- Children in hot car
- 2 deaths
Transport and schools grind to a halt
Rail networks across France and Belgium showed the strain of days of extreme heat. SNCF withdrew 10 percent of Paris-region trains to avoid permanent track deformation, while Belgium's SNCB pulled non-air-conditioned carriages from rush-hour service. A broken overhead power line (the catenary can sag and snag on passing trains) is strongly suspected as the cause of a major freight outage at Paris Gare de l'Est on 18 June. In France more than 1,350 schools closed, and in Germany several schools enacted "Hitzefrei" rules that send pupils home at midday.
Europe under red alert
France placed 54 of its 96 mainland departments under a red heat alert on Tuesday, covering roughly 39 million people. Italy declared a red alert in 15 cities including Rome, Milan, Florence, Turin and Venice, with a sixteenth city due to join on Wednesday. Spain activated its highest alert level in Andalusia, Cantabria and the Basque Country, while the UK Met Office issued a rare red warning for extreme heat on Wednesday and Thursday, warning of "serious illness or danger to life" across the population. About 400 million people across the continent are forecast to experience temperatures of 32C or higher through Sunday.
Climate change amplifies extremes
Scientists linked the intensity and duration of the heatwave to human-driven climate change. Climatologist Davide Faranda noted that the event's continental scale is unprecedented, and state weather service Aemet pointed out that mainland Spain recorded 10 June heatwaves between 2000 and 2025, compared with just two in the previous 25 years. The current episode is the second major heatwave to strike western Europe in less than a month, raising questions about how infrastructure and public-health systems will cope as such events become more frequent.
It is a heatwave with a continental extension that is unprecedented.
