Social workers from the French Red Cross prepare drinks and sandwiches at the back of an association vehicle to distribute to people living in severe poverty during an extreme heatwave outreach patrol in Poitiers, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France, June 22, 2026.Jean-François Fort/ AFP via Getty Images

Why Europe’s heat waves are still so deadly – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

BRUSSELS — Once the heat dissipates, Europe will start counting its dead. 

The extraordinary temperatures sweeping the western part of the continent this week will have killed hundreds, likely thousands, more than two decades after the deadly summer of 2003 alerted governments to the dangers of extreme heat. 

While a first estimate of the death toll will take weeks, Spanish researchers are already attributing more than 210 fatalities between Sunday and Wednesday to the heat.