Paris bakes as heat wave turns deadly

The punishing and record-breaking heat wave across Europe has turned deadly. On Monday, two children aged 2 and 4 died after locking themselves in their family’s car in southern France, according to a public prosecutor in the town of Carpentras. 

Dozens of drownings were also reported over the weekend in France and Germany as people tried to find relief in rivers and lakes. 

(MORE: Heat wave threatens all-time June records)

Nearly half of France is under a red heat wave alert Tuesday – 54 “departments” or regions, an “unprecedented number” according to Météo-France, the country’s weather agency.

Hundreds of schools were closed Monday as temperature hit 111°F in some parts of the country. Parents of students at one school in western France covered school windows in chalk to try to block out some of the sun and heat.

In Paris, people flocked to any location that had air conditioning, like the Louvre, but those locations then got so crowded some tourists said there was little relief inside.

Hundreds of schools are also closing across the United Kingdom where the heat is expected to intensify Wednesday and Thursday.  The UK’s Met Office issued a rare red warning, saying temperatures could be above 90° in the shade.

(MORE: Europe vs. USA - same heat, different danger)

During an event on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “London isn’t just calling. It’s cooking.”

This is the second heat dome in two months over Europe, from Spain to Germany, the dangerous temperatures will linger into the weekend.

Over the past four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month. The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.