CARPENTRAS: The temperature in France surpassed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time on record on Friday as Europe sweltered in an early summer heatwave that has caused several deaths.

With France, Spain, Italy and parts of central Europe particularly badly hit by the high temperatures, officials pleaded with people to take common sense precautions.

France’s new record temperature of 45.1 degrees Celsius was registered in Villevieille, a village in the southern department of Gard near Montpellier, the same area where a previous high of 44.1 degrees Celsius was set in August 2003, Meteo-France said. Records began at the turn of the 20th century.

Heat-related deaths have been reported in Spain, Italy, France and Germany

The state forecaster said it was likely the record could be beaten again soon.

Earlier, the mercury rose above 44 degrees Celsius in the southeastern town of Carpentras. The town was deserted, with cafe owners contemplating empty terraces, which would normally be packed.

“We have never seen this!” one exclaimed.

The new record makes France just the seventh European country to have recorded a plus 45 degrees Celsius temperature, along with Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and North Macedonia, Meteo France said.

At least two deaths linked to the heatwave were reported in Spain.

After feeling dizzy while helping harvest wheat in the southern Andalusia region, a Spanish teenager collapsed with convulsions when he took a dip in a swimming pool to cool off.

He was rushed to hospital in the town of Cordoba where he later died, the regional government said.

Elsewhere in Spain, a 93-year-old man collapsed and died on the street in the northern city of Valladolid, police said, giving heatstroke as the cause of death.

Heat-related deaths have also been reported in Italy, France and Germany, mainly among the elderly.

France remains haunted by the memory of the devastating heatwave of August 2003 which exposed the shortcomings of emergency services at the height of the summer holidays.

That year, nearly 15,000 people are estimated to have died because of the heat, many of them elderly people at home.

“I want to appeal to the sense of responsibility of citizens — there are avoidable deaths in every heatwave,” said French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

Scientists warn that global warming linked to human fossil fuel use could make such scorchers more frequent.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2019