Scientists say the heatwave at the end of June would have been “almost impossible” without human-caused climate change, which is making heatwaves more frequent and intense.
The data, compiled from national mortality statistics in 27 European member states, include additional deaths from all causes, not just heat-related, during the week of June 22-28, when the heatwave peaked in France, Spain, the UK and other countries.
The total number of deaths in the same European countries over the previous eight weeks was on average about 500 deaths per week below normal levels. The EuroMOMO figures may change in the coming weeks as new data becomes available.
The extreme heat wave at the end of June disrupted power supplies, closed schools and broke temperature records in France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
EuroMOMO does not publish data on excess mortality for individual countries, but says that France and Belgium were the only two European countries to record “very high excess mortality” in the last week of June.
The high death toll in Belgium was the highest during any heatwave recorded since 2000, according to the Belgian public health institute “Siensano”.
A separate scientific study published today estimates that 2.700 people died as a result of heat during the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales.