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Britain, western European countries under extreme heat alerts amid sweltering conditions
Millions of people across Europe were exposed to extreme temperatures on Tuesday, with 40 fatalities from drowning recorded in France in the past week as residents seek relief from the searing heat.
Temperatures will remain exceptionally high around the clock as the national weather service, Meteo France, placed 54 departments under a red heat wave alert, about half of the country. Some trains were cancelled, including between Paris and Brussels.
In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, trains and sporting events remain impacted, while dozens of drowning deaths have been reported since the weekend.
Millions across Europe faced extreme temperatures, with 40 drowning deaths in France in a week amid the searing heat.
"Sunshine continues to dominate across France, maintaining oppressive and exhausting heat throughout the country," Meteo France said. Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40 C in many towns.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that the 40 people who died by drowning since last Thursday were mainly young people. French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari said she understood the urge to escape the heat but warned against swimming in unauthorized or dangerous areas.
On Monday, first responders were unable to resuscitate two children, aged two and four, who were found unconscious by their mother in the family car outside their home, said a prosecutor in Carpentras, southeast France. In one area of Paris, the municipality offered free cinema tickets to those under 25 or over 65, for a break in a place cooled by air conditioning.
The heat wave is exceptionally intense, coming very early in the summer, "but with a still uncertain duration," the weather service said. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in over half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.
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