Paris mortuaries reached capacity as a record heat wave caused more than 1,000 deaths in France, as families asked if there was room for one more.

The national public health agency reported more than 1,200 deaths on Wednesday, 1,400 on Thursday and another 1,400 on Friday, compared with a daily death rate of 900 to 1,000 before the heat wave. Eighty‑five percent of the recorded deaths involved people aged 65 and older, and home deaths rose about 40% during the period.

City officials installed two temporary storage units with 20 places each for municipal mortuaries and hospitals added 50 places. Zouhaer Hertelli, a mortuary owner, said he has requested permission to place refrigerated containers outside his facility near Orly airport, but approval is pending. He said funeral directors are storing bodies as far as Chartres, about 80 kilometres from Paris.

Funeral directors said many of the deceased were elderly individuals who lived alone and were discovered after death, suggesting heat contributed to the fatalities. Véronique Bertrand, a Paris funeral director, warned that lessons from the 2003 heat wave, which caused about 15,000 deaths, appear to have been forgotten and urged renewed community solidarity.

The agency cautioned that the final death toll may rise as more certificates are processed, and the capacity of mortuaries remains limited as temperatures remain high.