France recorded at least 1,000 additional deaths last week during its record-breaking heat wave, the national public health agency reported Sunday. The surge overwhelmed mortuaries in Paris, where funeral directors like Zouhaeir Hertelli found all 32 cold room places taken. He had to turn away hundreds of calls from mourning families.
Public Health France noted a sharp increase in deaths at private homes, particularly in the Paris region. More than 1,200 deaths occurred last Wednesday, when France endured its hottest-ever day. This figure rose to over 1,400 deaths on Thursday and again on Friday. Before the heat wave, the daily death rate in April and May hovered between 900 and 1,000. The agency cautioned that its estimate of additional deaths will likely increase as more data, especially for home deaths, is collected. Eighty-five percent of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above.
The Cost of Capital's Climate Crisis
Europe is now the fastest-warming continent, heating at twice the global average, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He stated that 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, and grids are buckling. A rapid study by the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity would not have been possible without climate change. The study found this heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it was 20 years ago. This "once-in-a-generation" heat wave now occurs nearly every year, Tedros noted, with over 1,300 excess deaths recorded since June 21 linked to high temperatures across Europe.
Temperature records were shattered across the continent. Germany hit 41.7 degrees Celsius in Neißemünde, Poland reached 40.5 C, and the Czech Republic saw its hottest day ever at 41.9 C. The extreme heat also sparked wildfires in Germany, including one in Gohrischheide, a large forest still contaminated with World War II ammunition, complicating firefighting efforts. Another major fire near Traisen, also containing unexploded ordnance, forced 650 people from their homes.
Systemic Neglect and Overwhelmed Services
The heat exposed critical failures in public infrastructure. Concrete surfaces on countless highways broke up, and national rail operator Deutsche Bahn warned against unnecessary train travel. More than 600 passengers were evacuated from an overheated train in Brandenburg after a storm, with air conditioners failing and doors locked. Two people were hospitalized. In Leipzig, trams ceased operations due to heat damage to tracks and switches, as joint sealant for asphalt and concrete melted and clumped.
The crisis extended to mortuary capacity, a direct consequence of systemic underinvestment in public services. Zouhaeir Hertelli described the situation as "catastrophic," with funeral homes full and no solutions for grieving families. Paris City Hall installed two temporary storage units, each with 20 places, for municipal mortuaries, and city hospitals provided another 50. However, Hertelli reported funeral directors were storing bodies as far as Chartres, 80 kilometers from Paris. He is still awaiting permission to install refrigerated containers outside his own mortuary.
Lessons Unlearned, Lives Lost
WHO Director-General Tedros warned that "heat stress is often called the ‘silent killer’ — and European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for these temperatures." He called on European countries to implement "action plans" focusing on preparedness, prevention, and stronger health system responses. These proposals, however, fail to address the underlying economic structures driving climate change and the privatization of social care.
Véronique Bertrand, a Paris funeral director, fears that lessons from past tragedies have been forgotten. Historic high temperatures in 2003 were blamed for 15,000 deaths, prompting a national reckoning about care for older people. Last year, over 5,700 deaths were attributed to heat during an exceptionally hot summer. Bertrand observed that most current deaths involved "people who were living alone at home, isolated." She concluded these were deaths caused by the heat, emphasizing the need for "solidarity" and checking on neighbors. Yet, the structural conditions that isolate the elderly and leave them vulnerable persist, as capital continues to prioritize profit over collective well-being and resilient social infrastructure.