Austria sees record number of heat-related deaths in June and July

Vienna – Austria saw its highest-ever recorded number of heat-related deaths this June and July, the country’s health agency said on Aug 30, as Europe reels from a summer of brutal heatwaves.The AGES agency said those two months saw 646 heat-related deaths, as compared to the previous high of 570 in June and July 2024.The figures are calculated using a statistical model analysing excess mortality.Scientific experts say that human-made climate change has made extreme weather events more intense and more frequent, and Europe has become the globe’s fastest-warming continent.Austria, like much of the rest of the continent, has seen records tumble in this summer’s heatwaves and drought.A new temperature record of 41.2 deg C was set at Bad Deutsch-Altenburg in eastern Austria in early August, beating a previous high of 41 deg C recorded in Vienna just a day earlier. AFP