UK's Red Heat Warning Takes Effect Wednesday as France's Drowning Toll Holds at 40 and Germany Reports Six More Deaths

Since France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed 40 drowning deaths in unsupervised waterways since June 18, the heatwave has pushed further north, placing the United Kingdom on its second-ever red heat health alert.

The UK Health Security Agency's red alert runs from 01:00 Wednesday through 23:00 Thursday. The Met Office's corresponding red extreme heat warning covers parts of central, southern, and southeastern England and south Wales from 09:00 Wednesday to 21:00 Thursday, according to BBC News.

On Tuesday in Britain, the top recorded temperature was 34.6C in Wisley, Surrey. Scotland hit 29C and Northern Ireland reached 28.1C, the hottest days of the year for both nations so far, per BBC News. Southern England saw temperatures roughly 2-3C below forecast Tuesday after overnight storms disrupted the initial buildup.

Wednesday and Thursday are where the real numbers arrive. The Met Office is forecasting 37-38C across southern England, with 39C possible in some locations. The UK's all-time June record of 35.6C set in 1976 is expected to fall. The all-time UK record of 40.3C, set in July 2022, is not expected to be reached, according to BBC News.

Humidity is amplifying the danger. BBC News reports that an air temperature of 35C may feel like 41C when humidity is factored in. UKHSA's Prof Robin May told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that this warning applies not just to the elderly and very young, but to "otherwise healthy people in their prime of life."

The Deaths Accumulating Across the Continent

France has taken the worst of it so far. The 40 drowning deaths since June 18 include a 13-year-old girl who entered the River Seine at Fontaine-La Port on Sunday with her family despite not knowing how to swim, according to BBC News. A young professional footballer remained in critical condition Tuesday after being pulled from the River Rhône near Lyon, where four people got into difficulty in a section where swimming is prohibited.

Two additional deaths Monday were blamed on direct heat exposure after children aged two and four were found unresponsive in a family car in a car park in Carpentras, a city in southern France, according to the Indian Express and BBC News. Three other deaths attributed to heat illness involved people between 80 and 95 years old, according to Reuters as cited by AccuWeather and Yahoo News.

Germany has reported six fatal swimming incidents between Friday and Sunday. The German Lifesaving Association (DLRG) said men were "overestimating their abilities" in water, with three bodies recovered from the Rhine near a southwestern town, per BBC News.

Italy has placed 15 cities under red heatwave alert, including Rome, Milan, Florence, Turin, and Venice, according to BBC News. Spain's state weather service Aemet has issued red alerts in Andalusia, Cantabria, and the Basque Country, noting that June heatwaves in mainland Spain have occurred 10 times between 2000 and 2025 compared to just twice in the previous 25 years.

The World Health Organization's Europe office has reported that more than 200,000 people across Europe have died from heat-related causes over the past four years, according to the Indian Express.

How Governments Are Responding

The responses are varied and sometimes improvised. Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire opened 100 meters of the Canal Saint-Martin for supervised swimming Tuesday, telling French media that spending resources stopping people from using canals to cool off was "absurd." Water quality was tested and cleared before opening, according to Yahoo News.

Amsterdam is running a network of 12 designated cool-down spots, concentrated in the Nieuw-West district, which city modeling identified as having the greatest heat vulnerability. Spaces include libraries, city farms, theaters, and supermarkets, per BBC News.

In Spain's Logroño, where temperatures are forecast to hit 40C, public pool entry has been made free and ornamental fountains will run until 23:00 through the heatwave, according to BBC News.

France's Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari told French radio that swimming in unsupervised areas during a heatwave "is not something to be taken lightly." Given the body count, the warning carries weight.

The School Closure Question

Nearly 2,700 schools in France were expected to close or modify schedules as of Tuesday, with more than 800 confirmed closures, according to AccuWeather. The town of Pithiviers in the Loiret region shut all eight of its nursery and primary schools for the full week. Mayor Maxime Buizard told CNN affiliate BFMTV his town had not seen an episode "of this intensity and duration" in June.

In the UK, hundreds of schools announced at least partial closures ahead of Wednesday's red alert. The strongest concern from educators is straightforward: there is no legal maximum classroom temperature in England, and the government does not normally advise school closures. Teaching unions have long recommended keeping indoor temperatures below 26C and have called on the government to fund weatherization of school buildings. That call has not been acted on.

Older UK school buildings were built for a cooler climate and have limited cooling capacity. In a 39C environment with high humidity, an uncooled Victorian-era brick school poses a genuine risk. At the same time, the government's position that schools can generally be managed safely has worked in most previous heat events. The difference this week is that the UKHSA itself is warning about danger to healthy adults, which raises the threshold for what "safely managed" means.

AccuWeather meteorologist Jason Nicholls noted that El Niño is a contributing driver and said "there is a good chance we will see more rounds of heat this summer."

France's Météo France has warned that further records are possible, potentially surpassing all-time marks regardless of season, with up to 43C forecast for parts of western France. Whether Wednesday's actual peak temperatures match or exceed those forecasts will determine whether this event sets new historical benchmarks or remains severe-but-within-prior-experience.