Toll From Heat Wave Now Stands at 11,435
France’s first comprehensive tally of deaths from a searing heat wave stirred fresh outrage when the government revealed that 11,435 people had died.
From Aug. 1 to 15, when much of Europe baked in record temperatures, France saw an average 762 more deaths each day than normal. Gilles Brucker, director of the Health Surveillance Institute, which calculated the toll for the Health Ministry, said heat was clearly to blame.
Many victims were elderly people who died alone at home or in overwhelmed hospitals and nursing homes.
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