Germany records over 5 000 deaths due to record heatwave in late June

Germanyʼs heatwave in late June saw significantly more deaths than the average for the same period in the past three years. Preliminary figures suggest that 5 655 more people died during the same period in 2026.

This is reported by the German media Spiegel.

A total of 23 655 deaths were recorded in Germany between June 22 and 28 this year. A medical director of Cologneʼs emergency medical service Alexander Lechleutner said that while the number of accidents was most likely related to the extreme weather, it was not possible to simply say that these deaths were related to the heat.

He said it was difficult to clearly establish a link between the heat and the deaths of the elderly or those with chronic illnesses.

• In France, heatwaves on June 24-26 led to over 1 000 deaths, while in Spain, over 800 weather-related deaths were recorded. In Germany, tram tracks in some cities were deformed due to the heat, which led to disruptions in transport. In Italy, heavy rains, floods and landslides were recorded in the Alto Adige region due to a sharp change in weather. After that, the heatwave moved to eastern Europe.
• Earlier, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported that Europe is the part of the world that is warming the fastest: twice as fast as the global average.

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