A total of 64 people have died in France from the record high temperatures that have scorched the country for most of July, the French health authority InVS announced on Thursday.
In a separate announcement, public weather office Meteo-France said July's temperatures were the hottest on record, on average three to four degrees Celsius above the norm.
The director of InVS, Gilles Brucker, told AFP the number of deaths from the heatwave could still rise, even though storms and rains lowered temperatures across the country on Thursday.
"The consequences of a heatwave can make themselves felt for 24 or 48 hours," he said.
Of the 64 casualties, 40 were over 75 years old, he said.
Assistant director of forecasting at Meteo-France, Emmanuel Legrand, told a separate press conference that July "will remain in the annals as the hottest month of July in the last 50 years".
The records of Meteo-France cover the last 50 years. The statistics before this time are judged to be unreliable.
Legrand said storms over France would lower temperatures at the weekend, except in the southeast.
