Heatwave 'kills at least 50' in French capital

At least 50 Parisians have died of heat-related illnesses after a week of record-setting temperatures, a French medical expert says.

The claim, if proved, would double the number of deaths blamed on the unrelenting heatwave baking much of Europe.

The French government said yesterday it was difficult to determine if the deaths were weather-related, because it was often not clear whether patients admitted to hospitals suffered only from heat or from other ailments.

But Patrick Pelloux, the head of France’s emergency hospital doctors’ association, insisted scores of deaths were going uncounted in the Paris region and accused the government of failing to deal with a silent health crisis.

“They dare to talk about ... natural deaths. I absolutely do not agree with that,” Pelloux told TF1 television.

The government acknowledged an increase in the number of elderly being treated at hospitals, but said it was unclear if the heat was to blame.

“People don’t come in with "dying of heat" on their foreheads,” said Stephane Grossier of the health ministry. “Things are not as simple as they seem.”

Still, funeral directors say demands for their services has risen sharply since the heat wave took hold. Les Pompes funebres generales, France’s largest undertaker, said it has handled 50% more bodies in Paris, a company spokesman said. He noted the increase was “tied to the heat wave.”

Five people between the ages of 89 and 96 died in a old folk’s home over the weekend in the Essonne, a region south of Paris, the home’s director told The Associated Press.

Elsewhere in Europe, authorities counted at least 45 heat-related deaths, the latest occurring in Spain, where five people died yesterday while fleeing a forest fire.

The victims, apparently members of one family, left home in the north-eastern town of Sant Llorenc Savall and died of smoke inhalation, officials said. Most other Spanish victims were elderly and suffered from chronic lung and heart diseases, officials said.

Temperatures were expected to surge to 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit) in some areas of southern Spain this week before dropping off, the National Weather Centre said.

A record high for overnight temperatures in Paris was set on Sunday into Monday, when the thermometer hit 25.5 degrees Celsius (77.9 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Meteo France, the national weather service. The previous record was 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 degrees Fahrenheit), set in 1976.

Because of high pollution caused by the heat, Paris police urged motorists not to use their cars yesterday and reduce speed limits.

Not even the Nordic countries have been spared. Temperatures in Denmark reached 32 (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over the weekend.

Italian firefighters put out a blaze yesterday that burned for several hours in the hills above Positano and Maiori, two popular tourist towns on Italy’s Amalfi Coast near Naples. Authorities suspect people are taking advantage of the searing heat and rain-parched earth to set fires to clear land for farming or development.

In the northern German city of Kiel, refuse collectors began work at 5.30am instead of 7am to make removing the city’s fast-rotting rubbish more tolerable. The German arm of Italian sweet-maker Ferrero said it had suspended deliveries of chocolate eggs for at least a week because they would melt.

Italian weather experts say Europe’s heatwave is one of the five worst in the last 150 years; intense monsoon activity in Africa has been blamed in part for the merciless temperatures.

However, forecasters predict relief in coming days.

Dominique Escale of Meteo France said temperatures throughout France were expected to drop by midweek – although they would remain well above average. Forecasters were predicting a high of 29 (84.2 degrees Fahrenheit) for Thursday in the French capital.

The average August temperature in Paris is about 24 (75 degrees Fahrenheit).

Temperatures were cooler in Britain yesterday, a day after the nation recorded its hottest day in history – 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.58 Fahrenheit) – at Gravesend in southern England. The same day in London, temperatures crept above 37.7 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit).