France records over 5,700 excess deaths in June heatwave

France recorded 5,764 more deaths than usual during a record-breaking heatwave last month, health authorities have said, describing the excess mortality among people aged 15 and older as "unprecedented".

It was the highest excess mortality rate during a heatwave in the country since a devastating episode of high temperatures in 2003 that killed around 15,000 people, they added.

Three heatwaves have swept across France since May, the latest in increasingly frequent such extreme weather events that scientists have linked to made-made climate change.

The soaring temperatures caused havoc in a country where many homes, schools and hospitals are not designed for heat and do not have air conditioning.

They have also dried up riverbeds and sparked wildfires, including one that last week ravaged a tenth of the vast UNESCO-listed forest of Fontainebleau outside Paris.

The extra deaths between 17 June and 2 July this year were due to "all causes" - none yet clearly linked to the heat, Sante Public France said, saying final figures would be published in the autumn.

In comparison, the country reported 5,722 excess fatalities linked to high temperatures between June and mid-September last year.

Of the excess deaths last month, around two-thirds were people aged 75 or older, while less than a fifth were aged 45 to 64.

Half passed away in just three days from 25 - 27 June.

Paris deaths spike

France last month recorded its hottest June since records began in 1947 with a heatwave that saw temperatures spike above 40C in many places.

The average temperatures on 24 June and 25 June were the highest ever recorded in France, all months combined.

Deaths in the Paris region rose by 80%, Sante Public France said, after saying last week they doubled in the week of 22-28 June.

During that last week of June, four young children died across France after finding themselves trapped in boiling hot cars.

This did not however appear to affect official death rates for that age category.

At least 300 more people died than usual during an uncommonly early first heatwave in May.

Scientists have said human-caused climate change was "unequivocally" responsible for the intensity of the heatwave that battered Europe in late June.

Of the 53 heatwaves recorded nationwide since 1947 until late June, half have occurred since 2010, according to national met office Meteo-France.