PARIS, July 4 -- In the week of June 22 to June 28, deaths in French homes rose 91 per cent compared with the week before. The count of bodies visible in the news, people who collapsed at beaches, who died in cars, who arrived in emergency rooms with hyperthermia, was a few dozen. The official figure, released Thursday by France's health minister, is 2,025.

Belgium put its count at roughly 1,200. The Netherlands confirmed approximately 480. Together, France, Belgium and the Netherlands report that the June heatwave killed at least 3,700 people, with health authorities in all three countries warning the final tally will be higher. The numbers were released separately by each country's public health agency and were reported by Reuters on T...