Paris/Madrid/London: Three elderly people died as extreme temperatures hit France, and 13 swimmers were reported drowned as they tried to escape a heatwave that swept on across Europe, where authorities issued warnings for the days ahead.Thousands of schools in France closed or modified timetables on Monday and forecasters in Britain predicted temperatures could smash records for June this week. “We’re heading for, at the very least, several days of very, very hot weather. We don’t know when temperatures will start falling,” French health minister Stephanie Rist said. “Swim only in places that are supervised,” French civil safety service spokesperson Jerome Boulanger said after reporting the drownings from Sunday into Monday. Such deaths spiked 58% in France last year as swimmers tried to cool off.Three elderly people, aged between 80 and 95, died over the weekend in the Bordeaux region as a result of health issues caused by the current heatwave in France, local government official Sophie Brocas told France TV late on Sunday. Weather agency Meteo France said 49 regional administrative areas would be under a red heatwave warning.An April report by the World Meteorological Organisation found Europe is warming at more than double the global rate.According to the Reuters Climate Monitor, Europe on Monday was the continent furthest from its historic norm, with temperatures forecast to reach an average 24°Celsius, 4.1°C above what was typical from 1961-1990.The heatwave affecting large parts of Europe is known as an Omega block because it takes the shape of the Greek letter, with a bulge of hot air in the middle and cooler air either side, said Clair Barnes, a research associate in extreme weather and climate at Imperial College in London.The Met Office, Britain’s national weather forecaster, said on Monday that a fourday heatwave there could push temperatures above 39°C in some places, easily breaking the June record of 35.6 C set in 1957 and 1976.In Spain, state weather agency Aemet issued a red alert for the Basque region, in the normally cooler north of the country, with the mercury in San Sebastian set to rise to a high of 40°C, more than double the city’s historic average for June 22, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor. Italy on Monday issued heatwave red alerts for 12 cities, including Milan, Turin, Venice, Bologna, Florence and Rome. REUTERS