Overview
- A mid‑June heatwave pushed temperatures to about 44°C and coincided with a sharp, concentrated rise in daily deaths that has strained funeral services across France.
- Public Health France reported a large spike in fatalities during the peak days and said the vast majority of registered deaths were among people aged 65 and older.
- Undertakers and Paris mortuaries reached refrigerated capacity, prompting City Hall to install two temporary 20‑place storage units and hospitals to provide about 50 extra spaces.
- Officials say official excess‑death totals are still developing because many home and care‑home deaths are not immediately recorded electronically, so counts are expected to increase as certificates are processed.
- Many victims were isolated older people found at home, a pattern that echoes past heat crises and could drive calls for more social checks on vulnerable people and wider cooling measures such as increased air‑conditioning adoption.