The record-breaking heatwave, which eased on Sunday after several days of scorching temperatures, disrupted daily life across France, forcing the closure of many schools and major tourist attractions.
France is counting the human cost of its worst heatwave on record after health authorities reported about 1000 excess deaths within days, with elderly people accounting for the overwhelming majority of the victims as extreme temperatures swept across the country.
The rising death toll has also overwhelmed funeral services, with operators warning that morgues in central Paris have run out of space, forcing grieving families to seek funeral homes outside the capital as authorities grapple with the aftermath of the deadly heatwave.
French health officials said approximately 1,000 more people had died since Wednesday last week than would normally be expected during the same period in previous months, when the country experienced its highest temperatures since records began.
They disclosed that 85 percent of the victims were aged 65 and above, while the sharpest increase in fatalities involved people who died at home, particularly in Paris and its surrounding suburbs.
