Spain and France face more heat after scorching June caused 2,000 deaths

Spain and France are bracing for another possible heatwave that could bring temperatures of 44C (111F) over the coming days, as figures show that June’s extreme heat was responsible for more than 2,000 excess deaths in the two countries.Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, said a mass of dry and very hot air would bring persistently high temperatures to much of Spain from Saturday, adding that temperatures in parts of the south-east could hit 42C to 44C on Tuesday.“Temperatures will begin to rise over the weekend and we can’t rule out another heatwave,” said Rubén del Campo, an Aemet spokesperson. The agency said the high temperatures could increase the likelihood of forest fires next week and warned older people and those with cardiovascular problems to take extra care in the daytime heat.Aemet said last month was the second warmest June on record – surpassed only by June 2025 – with an average temperature that was 3.2C (5.8F) above the norm.Scientists have said the heatwave, which was the most severe and widespread to hit western Europe, was possible only due to the Climate Crisis driven by fossil fuel burning.La Concha bay in San Sebastián, Spain, on the first day of the heatwave. Photograph: Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty ImagesProvisional figures from Spain and France show that about 1,000 people lost their lives in each country because of the extreme heat. According to data from the Spanish health ministry’s daily mortality monitoring system, MoMo, there were 1,029 excess deaths attributable to high temperatures in June.France’s public health agency said last Sunday that the 10-day late June heatwave, which experts have said was the most extreme the country has experienced, had caused about 1,000 additional deaths compared with previous months between 24 and 28 June. A final figure has not yet been released.Nicolas Revel, the head of hospitals in the Paris area, said this week he did not expect the excess death toll to match the 15,000 recorded in 2003, France’s most severe previous heatwave, “because we’ve made a lot of progress in many areas”. But he said he expected the number of heat-related deaths to be higher than the 5,700 recorded last year.The medical emergency service SOS-Médecins said it had recorded an 85% increase in deaths among people aged over 75 during the last two weeks of June. A total of 513 elderly people died during the week of 22 June, compared with 278 the previous week.Call-outs to that age group, mainly for high temperature and anxiety, rose by 14%, it said. Hospitalisations of people over 75 increased by 19%. Across all age groups, call-outs for heatstroke and dehydration soared by 480% and 315% respectively.Canal Saint-Martin in Paris drew crowds of people during the extreme temperatures. Photograph: Adnan Farzat/NurPhoto/ShutterstockMarina Ferrari, the sports and youth minister, told French radio on Thursday the number of deaths by drowning had risen to “more than 90” since 19 June.“It’s a worrying figure,” said Ferrari. “We have seen a decrease in recent days, so we can clearly see that this is also correlated with a heatwave where people are seeking relief from the heat.”The extreme heat created parched conditions in southern France, where firefighters are battling several wildfires that are being fanned by strong winds.Laurent ⁠Nuñez, the interior minister, said three blazes, ⁠two ​of which broke out on the western edge of the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, had scorched a combined ⁠area of 1,210 hectares (2,990 acres).Meanwhile, the return of high temperatures to the Paris region has led to sometimes violent competition to acquire air-conditioning units.Hundreds of people besieged Lidl supermarkets in and around the French capital on Thursday, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking out as residents scrambled to get their hands on bargain air-cooling units before the next heatwave hit.A woman looks at a display of fans in a shop window in Madrid. Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty ImagesWith few air conditioners on sale elsewhere for less than €1,200 (£1,028), police were called to at least two stores as huge crowds descended on Lidl supermarkets in an attempt to buy basic models for as little as €179.Mousa Traore, who had been waiting for more than an hour with about 200 other customers at a small Lidl store in a northern Paris neighbourhood, said he had been told there were only two units available.“But then the police came and we were told there were none. The police officers took them I think,” he said, laughing.Due to historically mild summers, few homes and schools in France are equipped with air conditioning, making them ill-suited to face increasingly frequent heatwaves that scientists say are linked to human-induced climate change.Hundreds more people descended on a supermarket in Sevran, with cars queuing for the store blocking the centre of the poor northern suburb. It was much the same story in the nearby suburb of Livry-Gargan.“I give up, it’s madness,” said one man. “I abandoned my car several streets away to get there on foot but there is already a huge queue of people in the car park. It’s impossible.”Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report