France estimates that its death rate rose by at least 1,000 people during the devastating heatwave that swept the country last week – but that is at the cautious end of the estimate. As authorities continue to tally the number of heat-related deaths, mortuaries in Paris and its immediate region report they are already full to the brink.
Every few minutes, the mortuary owner’s phone rings. Since a record-smashing heat wave started taking lives and storage space for bodies in Paris and beyond, the funeral directors and mourning families calling him mostly have the same question: Do you have room for one more?
