The latest on the heatwave gripping Europe is set out below. Scientists say the recurring heatwaves are a clear sign of global warming, and they warn that such heatwaves will become more frequent, longer-lasting and more intense in future. The news agency AFP reported this from Paris.
France’s sports and youth minister, Marina Ferrari, told France Inter radio on Tuesday that about 20 people had drowned in the country over the weekend. She urged people crowding to rivers, lakes and beaches to escape the heat to follow safety rules. On Monday, a civil security spokesperson had given a figure of 13 drownings over the weekend.
France’s prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, was due to chair an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning to deal with the heatwave. A reactor at a nuclear power plant in south-western France was shut down because the water taken from a nearby river for cooling had become too warm. A plant spokesperson told AFP that the Golfech nuclear plant near Toulouse was cooled with water from the Garonne river, but the river water temperature had exceeded the safe limit of 28 degrees Celsius.
More than 1,350 schools have been closed in France because of the extreme heat, and the country’s average temperature has surpassed all records for the month of June. According to preliminary data published by Meteo France, the average day-and-night temperature in the country reached 29.2 degrees Celsius; the previous record for the highest average temperature was set on June 30, 2025. For Tuesday, the highest level of alert was issued in 54 of the 96 departments of mainland France. By AFP’s count, about 39 million people will be affected.
Record heatwave feared in Belgium
A heatwave in Belgium is forecast to last as long as a week. The head of the forecasting division of the country’s weather agency, the IRM, David Dehenauw, warned that it could be the warmest period ‘on record.’ Lessons at some schools in the country have been cut to half-days.
In Germany, deaths while swimming have risen, with authorities saying at least five people died over the weekend. Two young men aged 20 and 22 drowned in two lakes in Bavaria, and a 79-year-old woman died in the Baltic Sea. Fatal accidents also occurred in lakes in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. Police said on Monday that, the previous day, a plane had been stuck beside the runway at Frankfurt airport for more than an hour before take-off, and several passengers who fell ill in the heat had to be given emergency care.
In south-eastern France on Monday, the bodies of two children aged two and four were recovered from a private car. The local prosecutor, Helene Murzes, said the incident had happened amid rapidly rising temperatures.
The head of the Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, told reporters: ‘During extreme heat, there is enormous pressure on the transport network. The railways cannot withstand temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius. That is why we have advised vulnerable people in particular to postpone their journeys, and those who can work from home have also been asked to do so.’
Rare top-level alert in the UK
The UK’s weather service has issued the highest level of heat alert for parts of central and southern England for Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures are forecast to reach as high as 40 degrees Celsius even in the shade. On Monday, the Met Office said ‘exceptionally hot and humid weather’ would prevail in various parts of England, including London, Birmingham and Bath. Last month, the UK broke its record for the highest May temperature, and the Met Office said the existing record for the highest June temperature could also be broken this time. That record currently stands at 35.6 degrees Celsius, set in Southampton in June 1976 and at Camden Square in June 1957.
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