Disasters & Incidents
France drownings top 300 in heatwave summer, minister says
France has recorded 301 drowning deaths since June 19, Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari said on August 23, a 14% rise from summer 2025 that she linked to repeated heatwaves.
Ferrari told France Inter radio that many people had gone to the water during hot weather and that “risky behaviour” had contributed to deaths. She said many fatal accidents happened in areas not authorised or supervised for swimming.
The toll has more than doubled since July 15, when Ferrari gave an initial summer drowning figure of 142 deaths.
The drownings come during a historically hot European summer. Meteo-France said on August 20 that France's latest heatwave had lasted 23 days, tying the country's longest national heatwave on record with July 1983. France had already had two earlier summer heatwaves, lasting 14 days in June and 16 days in July.
Sante Publique France said on August 19 that France had recorded 7,307 excess deaths during periods of high temperatures and heatwaves so far this year. The public health agency said those deaths cannot yet be definitively attributed to heat, and final figures are expected in the autumn.
Experts say the repeated heatwaves affecting many European countries are driven by human-caused climate change.
Update
France has recorded 301 drowning deaths since June 19, Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari said.
Ferrari said the toll is 14% higher than in summer 2025.
Ferrari linked the increase to repeated heatwaves and risky swimming behaviour.
Ferrari said many deadly accidents occurred in places not authorised or supervised for swimming.
Source note: AFP news report published on 23 August 2026 at 09:41:49 UTC.
Update
Meteo-France said the latest French heatwave had continued for 23 days through Wednesday.
The current heatwave has tied July 1983 as France's longest national heatwave on record.
France's national average temperature was 24.7C on Wednesday, including daytime and nighttime readings.
Source note: AFP news report published on 20 August 2026 at 12:51:27 UTC.
Update
Nearly three-quarters of the excess deaths concerned people aged 75 and over, while the health ministry said all age groups from 45 and over were affected.
Final mortality figures are expected in the autumn.
June 24 and 25 were the hottest days ever recorded on average across mainland France, according to the national temperature indicator.
The heatwave that began in late July became the second-longest recorded nationwide at 22 days and counting.
More than half of France's 54 heatwaves recorded since 1947 have occurred since 2010.
Source note: AFP news report published on 19 August 2026 at 14:28:14 UTC.
Update
France's public health agency said the still provisional death toll from this year's high temperatures had reached 7,300.
The July 2-22 surge of 1,243 all-cause excess deaths cannot yet be definitively attributed to heat.
The agency said the July figure followed 5,764 excess deaths during a June heatwave and 300 deaths identified so far during a late-May period of high temperatures.
Source note: AFP news report published on 19 August 2026 at 13:15:04 UTC.
Update
A health authority said France had 1,243 excess deaths during the July heatwave.
Source note: AFP news report published on 19 August 2026 at 13:00:29 UTC.
Update
France has recorded more heatwave days in 2026 than in any other year since records began in 1947.
The 52-day total includes 14 days in June, 16 days in July and a 22-day heatwave that began in late July and had not officially ended as of August 18.
June 24 and 25 were the hottest days ever recorded on average across mainland France under the national temperature indicator.
The late-July heatwave is the second-longest recorded nationwide at 22 days and counting.
More than half of France's 54 heatwaves since 1947 have occurred since 2010.
Meteo-France's national heatwave definition is based on threshold values for a national temperature indicator.
Source note: AFP news report published on 19 August 2026 at 10:51:49 UTC.
Update
France has endured a record 52 heatwave days since mid-June in 2026, according to an AFP analysis of Meteo-France data.
The 52 days came across three heatwaves this summer.
The 2026 total exceeds 33 heatwave days recorded in 2022 and 22 days recorded during the summer of 2003.
Source note: AFP news report published on 19 August 2026 at 09:59:56 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
Final figures on deaths attributable to heat are expected in the autumn.
The individual locations and circumstances of the 301 drowning deaths were not detailed.
Source
AFP news report published on .