France, July 24 -- The figure represents the highest excess mortality rate during a heatwave in the country since 2003, when extreme temperatures killed around 15,000 people, according to France's official public health portal Sante Public.

Three heatwaves have swept across France since May, the latest instances of increasingly frequent extreme weather events which scientists have linked to man-made climate change.

The soaring temperatures caused havoc in a country where the majority of homes, schools and hospitals are not designed for such heat and do not have air conditioning.

They have also dried up riverbeds and sparked wildfires, including one that last week ravaged a tenth of the vast UNESCO-listed forest of Fontainebleau outside...