Red alerts issued in Spain, Italy, as Europe grapples with heatwave

France experienced its hottest night from Monday to Tuesday, and Italy and Spain issued hot alerts as Europe continues to battle extreme heat.

France experienced its hottest night from Monday to Tuesday as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 40 people, many of them young, had drowned since June 18 amid a severe heatwave.

The deadly heatwave has battered France since last week, disrupting daily life and forcing school closures and train cancellations, with Lecornu convening ministers for a new crisis meeting on Tuesday to address the situation.

The country recorded its hottest night from Monday to Tuesday since measurements began in 1947, the Meteo-France weather agency said.

The national temperature indicator -- an average of readings from 30 stations across France -- reached 21.6C, according to preliminary figures taken Tuesday morning.

The previous record was 21.4C, set on July 25, 2019.

Lecornu called the latest fatalities a "tragic scourge".

"The latest figure reported to us is 40 deaths since June 18, mainly among young people," Lecornu said at the crisis meeting.

"They are the first victims of the crisis we are facing."

Earlier Tuesday, Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari told the France Inter broadcaster that around 20 people had drowned since the beginning of the weekend, urging swimmers to respect safety rules.

Postpone travel: Paris official 

"The transport network comes under severe strain in periods of extreme heat... railways cannot withstand temperatures above 50 degrees," the head of the Ile-de-France greater Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, told journalists.

"That is why we have advised all passengers who can to postpone their journeys, particularly vulnerable people, and for everyone who is able to work from home to do so."

 Almost all Spain on warning 

Nearly all of Spain was under a heat alert, with parts of the south and north of the country placed on the highest warning level as a heatwave grips most of western Europe.

National weather agency AEMET issued red alerts, a warning for "extraordinary danger", for areas around the southern city of Cordoba, the northern city of Bilbao and parts of the northern region of Cantabria.

Italy on red alert 

Italy's health ministry declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities, including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.

During a red alert, the highest level, the ministry advises people to eat light, stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day and sprinkle themselves with cool water.

Record Belgian heatwave forecast 

Belgium's heatwave is forecast to last a week with temperatures "the hottest ever recorded", warned David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute. Some schools reduced classes to half a day.

 Five die in Germany 

Germany saw a spike in fatal swimming accidents, with authorities reporting five deaths over the weekend.

Two men aged 20 and 22 drowned in lakes in Bavaria, and a 79-year-old woman died in the Baltic Sea. Other fatal swimming accidents occurred in lakes in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Police said Monday that several heat-stricken passengers were treated by emergency services at Frankfurt airport the previous day after their plane was held for more than an hour on the apron before take-off.