Europe heat wave: 400 more people died in Netherlands during record-breaking summer week, says Dutch statistics agency

Amsterdam: Almost 400 more people died in the Netherlands during Europe’s recent record-breaking heatwave than in a regular summer week, Dutch national statistics agency CBS said on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_7139541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  People cool off during a sunny day at a pond in front of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Reuters[/caption] In total, 2,964 people died in the Netherlands during the week that started on 22 July, the CBS said, which was around 15 per-cent more than during an average week in the summertime. Temperature records tumbled across Europe during late July’s heatwave, and for the first time since records began topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the Netherlands on 25 July.

 The death toll in the Netherlands during that week was comparable to the rate during two heatwaves in 2006, which were among the longest ever in the country, the researchers said. About 300 of the additional fatalities were among people aged 80 years and older.

Most of the deaths occurred in the east of the Netherlands, where temperatures were higher and the heatwave lasted longer than in other parts of the country. The Netherlands has a total population of around 17 million. The heatwave was the second to hit Europe in a month, and climate specialists warn such bursts of heat may become more common as the planet warms up due to greenhouse gas emissions.