If this report of the BBC is even half true then it must be a complete disaster.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3150097.stm

Surely it can not be true! To quote from the site...

"The figures were the first to be given by the government, which previously said that there was no accurate way of measuring deaths from the heat.

The ministry said its estimates were based on reports of deaths received from hospitals and mortuaries whose figures for this week were 37% higher than for the same period last year.

The announcement came as officials launched an emergency plan in the Paris region to deal with the medical crisis."

I thought this was just a heatwave like you guys get every 5 years or so but I'm obviously wrong. My thought go to all those in the region :(

Wellard I saw that headline on Time Warner this morning and was stunned as well. There's a thread on Current Events about this too.

I imagine that many people just aren't used to the type of heat that's been the weather there for much of this summer and don't have the means to stay cool and I know that such weather always takes it's toll on the elderly. :(

[ 08-14-2003, 11:39 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

Didn't Chicago have a similiar death toll due to a heat wave several years ago? I remeber hearing stories that they had to bring in refrigerator trucks to keep all the bodies cool.

Heat (or cold) deaths are hard to pin down sometimes, but this is pretty severe.

Anyone here ever see this type of weather in france before??? :( This is very scary. The has seemed 'different' since like 1999.. and getting weirder each year. (Remember we had the largest tornado outbreak in 2003 and ALL OF THEM were in one Month!!)

I'd like to get some eye witnesses from areas around France to let me how the feeling/mood is, and if you've seen weather like this before.

Hmmm temperetures around 40C and people are dying? I guess it really does take its toll on the elderly, but the Carpathian basin (Hungary, Romania and part of Slovakia) get temperatures like that every year, I've been in 45C in Hungary around 8 or 10 years ago, I didn't think it could do so much damage :(

[ 08-14-2003, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

I`ve heard on the news. Scary stuff. :(
So drink a lot of water and go under a cold shower now and then. Belive me I know.

I don't get it either. In large parts of Greece and Turkey the temperature goes up to 45C or more, every year. It's quite normal there. It does last a long time this year though. Remember the Tour de France ? It was so hot that the concrete was melting. There hasn't been a raindrop since.

The temprature reaches those level every year down here, and of course large parts of Australia are dessert. And nothing like this happens. So what is going wrong in france? Maybe a media campaign to warn people to drink 2/3 litres a day of PURE water *not coffee* would help.

As Ziroc mentioned, it would be good to get feedback from those in the region.

It makes a difference if you've been acclimatised to the weather. I would imagine that most Europeans used to perhaps a 25 - 28 deg summer, & suddenly found temperatures at 40 deg, would be quite discomfited, to say the least.

[ 08-14-2003, 10:49 PM: Message edited by: Hayashi ]

wow.. poor people.. thats why when its hot, i stay at home.. turn up the aircon.. and get a nice clear cool ice water :D with electrifan.. too bad its here now.