Austria sees record number of heat-related deaths in June and July
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Wienfluss (Vienna river) with low water level as it cut through Stadtpark in Vienna on a sunny and hot day on May 28.
PHOTO: AFP
- Austria recorded a historic high of 646 heat-related deaths in June and July, surpassing the previous record of 570 in the same months of 2024.
- The rise in deaths is linked to intense and frequent heatwaves caused by human-made climate change, with Europe being the fastest-warming continent.
- Austria set a new temperature record of 41.2 deg C in early August, breaking the previous high of 41 deg C recorded just a day earlier in Vienna.
AI generated
Vienna – Austria saw its highest-ever recorded number of heat-related deaths in 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 with the previous high of 570 in June and July 2024.
The figures are calculated using a statistical model analysing excess mortality.
Scientists 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