It is reported that 40 people drowned in France as Europe is smoldering due to the heat

A total of 40 drowning deaths were recorded in France last week, as people turned to swimming in the hope of respite from the sweltering heat. Millions across Europe faced extreme temperatures on Tuesday, and hot conditions continued to hit France hard.

The 40 people who have died of drowning since last Thursday were mostly young people, said French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

“It’s not something to be taken lightly, swimming in unsupervised areas during the heat,” said France’s Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari, CBS partner BBC News reported, citing an interview with French radio.

The extreme conditions are expected to last at least through the end of the week, with daytime temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in many cities.

In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, public transport and sporting events have been affected. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower adjusted its operations due to the hot weather, closing in the afternoon instead of late at night as it usually does.

“More temperatures are expected to break records, including some that may exceed all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” said Meteo France, the national weather service.

Temperatures on Tuesday will remain high throughout the day and night in France. Meteo France placed 54 departments, almost half of the country, under a red heat wave warning.

France had its hottest day on record for the month of June on Monday, and its hottest night ever on Monday night, BBC News reported.

Meanwhile, several other European countries were also experiencing scorching heat, including Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. In Spain, temperatures were expected to rise to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or higher, and red warnings were issued for large parts of the country, according to BBC News.

Human-caused climate change is associated with more extreme weather, and projections from the UN’s climate agency say the next five years should break heat records.

The heat wave is unusually intense, coming at the start of summer, “but at an uncertain time,” the weather service said. Comparisons have already been made with the heat wave of August 2003, when the highest temperatures in more than half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among elderly people in homes and retirement homes without air conditioning.

Europe is the world’s hottest continent, with temperatures rising at twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Over the past four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe have died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization’s European office said this month.

Above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heatstroke.

Across the English Channel from France, many British schools were closed for the day and trains were disrupted as the Met Office, the UK’s weather agency, issued a red warning for extreme heat on Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts suggesting June’s daily temperature record could be broken.

Temperatures of around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit are expected in southern England, reaching 95 degrees in southeast Wales. The peak of the heat wave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach at least 102.2 degrees. Conditions are expected to improve on Friday, the Met Office said.

On Tuesday, many train operators across the UK said they were canceling train services to “ensure that the railways operate safely.” National Rail, which runs the rail infrastructure, urged people to “only travel if necessary” on Wednesday and Thursday.

In the south of the continent, Spain is experiencing a heat wave in various parts of the Iberian Peninsula.

Spain’s weather service, Aemet, issued red warnings on Tuesday for temperatures of 111 degrees Fahrenheit in southern Andalusia and warnings of thermometers hitting 104 degrees in parts of Cantabria and the Basque Country along its northern Atlantic coast.

Meteorologist Rubén del Campo said Spain, which has experienced a very hot summer of late, will become hotter as a result of climate change as heat waves become more frequent, longer and occur outside the traditional window of July and August.

Of the twelve heat waves that Aemet has recorded in the month of June since it began tracking them in 1975, half have occurred since 2015, del Campo said.

Human-driven climate change is warming the atmosphere, above Spain and the surrounding ocean waters, he said.

Copernicus, the EU’s monitoring agency, found that in Europe and around the world, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the continent experienced the second highest number of “heat stress” days.

Scientists warn that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat and drought, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.