France, Belgium and Netherlands report 3,700 excess deaths during June heatwave

France, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded 3,700 excess ‌deaths during the June heatwave that sent temperatures soaring across ​Europe, with authorities warning that the numbers are ‌preliminary and could rise.

Experts have ‌said the heatwave, which lasted from about June 20-28, was the worst recorded in Europe, causing disruption to power ‌generation, damaging infrastructure and overwhelming healthcare systems. The extreme heat was almost certainly driven by climate change, scientists said.

An area of Europe with 410 million people — more than two-thirds of the continent’s population — experienced temperatures over 35˚C at least once during a June 15-30 heatwave, according to an AFP analysis.

During a record-setting 16-day heatwave in August 2003, some 320 million people in Europe experienced such temperatures, according to AFP calculations using daily maximum temperature data from the European Drought Observatory and population figures from the Joint Research Centre.

All-time temperature records were broken in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, as well as June records in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

There were 2,025 excess deaths recorded in France during the heatwave, with a particular increase in deaths among people aged over 45, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist told ​local television on Friday.

A woman sits on a surfboard as festival-goers swing on swings on the shore of the Groene Heuvels lake in Beuningen, eastern Netherlands, on Friday. AFP

Deaths at home rose 91% between ‌June 22-28 compared to the previous week, while deaths in nursing homes and healthcare facilities also increased, the country’s public health authority said in a bulletin.

“Mortality will ... be higher than these initial figures suggest,” the authority warned.

Belgium recorded 39 per cent more deaths than normal between June 18 and 29 as a sweltering heatwave gripped much of Europe, health authorities said Friday.

The country saw 1,222 excess deaths during the period, of which nearly half were of people aged 85 or over, according to provisional data from the federal health ministry.

“Such a level of excess mortality during a heatwave is unprecedented in our country,” it said in a statement, noting that Belgium had recorded “seven tropical days of temperatures exceeding 30C” as well as “abnormally” warm nights. The peak in excess mortality was reached on Saturday, June 27.

The previous day, most of the country had been placed under orange or red heat alerts, prompting authorities to cancel a slew of events including a re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo.

Authorities in the Netherlands said the heatwave ​led to about 480 excess deaths, mainly among the over 80s.

Agencies