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 authorities said on Thursday that hospitals in and around the capital Paris were reaching "saturation point." | World News

France is seeing "a higher than normal number of deaths" due to the heatwave baking the country, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Saturday.

A severe heatwave across western Europe has led to an estimated 1,000 excess deaths in France since June 24, according to health officials. The elderly, particularly those living…

France has recorded around 1,000 more deaths than expected since June 24 during the record-breaking heatwave that swept across much of western Europe, with the vast majority of…