Nearly 100 people died by drowning in Germany last month, authorities have said.
The figure comes as extreme temperatures in western Europe have been blamed for hundreds of excess deaths again.
In Germany’s worst death toll from drowning for more than 20 years, 99 people died in June, according to official figures, after temperatures rose as high as 41.7 degrees in some areas.
The victims were largely young men, with 40 of them under 30 years old – the biggest group among those whose ages were known. More than 90 per cent were male.
Germany’s lifeguarding federation said the country “had not registered this many drownings since the heatwave of June 2003, when 107 people died”.
More than 1,300 people across Europe died in the blazing start to the summer, according to the World Health Organisation. Deaths by drowning have risen across the Continent, with France’s sports minister, Marina Ferrari, saying on Friday it was the cause of death of 131 people there since June 19th.
Last week, Germany’s main public health institute reported that the country had recorded at least 5,120 heat-related deaths this year, most of them in June. The Robert Koch Institute said about 4,270 were people aged 75 and older.
Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters such as heatwaves and wildfires.
In France this weekend, the Eiffel Tower and other Paris landmarks announced early closures as a quarter of the country sweltered under the third heatwave to hit the country since May.
Twenty-four of the country’s departments, home to 22.2 million people, according to a calculation by Agence France-Presse, were under the maximum alert level issued on Sunday by the national weather service, Météo-France.
The operator of the Eiffel Tower said the monument would close early on Saturday and Sunday at 4pm, “due to the high temperatures forecast”. The 330m-high (1,083ft) structure, which attracts seven million tourists annually, usually stays open past midnight during the high season.
Two of the French capital’s most popular museums, the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, have taken similar measures.
The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, said on Thursday it would close at 4pm on Friday until Monday, while the Musée d’Orsay announced it would close early “due to the extreme heat”, from 5pm on Saturday until Wednesday.
The organisers of the Tour de France cycling race also said Sunday’s 185.5km stage would be shortened by 30km, cutting out a hilly loop, because of the intense heat – the first time in its history that such a decision has been taken.
Belgian cyclist Tim Merlier, who won Saturday’s stage, welcomed the news. “We are now one week of racing; it was always above 35 degrees,” he said. “It’s definitely a fight to have water, ice and drinks between the [support] cars.”
Across the country, many towns have called off their firework displays for the Bastille Day national public holiday on July 14th because of the increased risk of fires amid the dry conditions.
French president Emmanuel Macron called for vigilance, warning that nine out of 10 fires were due to human activity. “A single second of inattention can put families at risk, endanger those who protect us and destroy our countryside,” he wrote on X.
France recorded more than 2,000 excess deaths during the June heatwave, and 300 during the high temperatures in late May, according to official figures.
The government has faced a barrage of criticism, including accusations of being “unprepared” for the extreme weather.
In Spain, a wildfire that killed at least 12 people as they tried to flee in the south has been contained, allowing about 1,500 evacuees to return home, said officials.
Meanwhile, researchers from Imperial College London, the Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have estimated that there were 2,700 excess deaths in England and Wales during May and June’s record hot spells.
The analysis found that about 550 people are estimated to have died because of heat-related causes in nine days of the May heatwave, and about 2,200 in the 11 days around the June heatwave.
Clair Barnes from Imperial College London said heatwaves are the “most dangerous kind of extreme weather”, with the World Health Organisation recommending authorities in Europe plan for extreme heat in the same way they do for winter flu. – Guardian/PA
