• Weather pattern Omega block blamed for record heat
• Trains delayed or cancelled due to power breakdown

PARIS: Forty people have drowned in France over recent days as they sought to cool down to escape record heat, the prime minister said on Tuesday, as a heatwave swept across much of Europe.

Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Spain were also sweltering in extreme heat, with record temperatures in some areas disrupting schools and transport networks and forcing tourist sites — including the Eiffel Tower — to shut. Europe is warming at more than twice the global average, according to the World Meteoro­logical Organisation, making such prolonged heat episodes increasingly likely.

France experienced its hottest day on record on Tuesday, Meteo France forecaster said, with a peak of 44.3 degrees Celsius (111.74 degrees Fahrenheit) in one town in the southwest. Fifty-four departments are under red alerts in what Meteo France said was unprecedented. That will jump to 58 on Wednesday. Across the country, people have been jumping into canals and rivers to cool off. Sports minister Marina Ferrari said she understood the urge to escape the heat but warned against swimming in unauthorized or dangerous areas.

Speaking ahead of an emergency meeting on the heatwave, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called the drownings “a sad scourge” and said there had been 40 deaths since June 18, most of them young people. On Monday, first responders were unable to resuscitate two children, aged 2 and 4, who were found unconscious by their mother in the family car outside their home, said a prosecutor in Carpentras, southeast France.

Heat dome

The heatwave is being driven by a weather pattern known as an Omega block, because it takes the shape of the Greek letter, with a bulge of hot air trapped between cooler systems, allowing temperatures to build day after day. Heatwaves and storms are being intensified by climate change.

Meteo France said current conditions were comparable to the August 2003 heatwave, which lasted 16 days and led to an estimated 80,000 excess deaths across Europe. It was uncertain how long the current episode would last. “Thursday will once again be a sweltering day (in France), with temperatures remaining just as high. On Friday, a gradual drop is expected to begin from the Atlantic coast,” the weather forecaster said. Heatwaves can affect people’s physical and mental healthbut also force businesses to adapt and put grain harvests at risk.

In Italy, the health ministry issued its highest level alert for 15 cities and authorities took measures to curtail work in some sectors. Storms were expected over the Alps and Apennines, bringing heavy rain, gusty winds and hail. Britain is also in the grip of the heat, with the Met Office forecasting temperatures of up to 37 C in southern England on Tuesday potentially a new June record before rising further on Wednesday and Thursday. Dozens of schools planned early closures. Transport networks across Europe came under strain, with trains cancelled or running more slowly.

Train serveces cancelled

The extreme heat baking much of Europe this week is exposing the limits of rail infrastructure made during cooler times, leading to delays and cancellations along with warnings to travellers with health problems to avoid trips if possible.

Overhead power lines that expand and droop, tracks that widen even just a few millimetres when hit by the Sun and overtaxed air-conditioning systems are the main problems dogging train lines where maintenance investments have often lagged.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2026