Heat wave kills more than 1,100 people in Spain and Portugal

Over 1,100 people have died in Spain and Portugal from heat-related causes over the past week as an unprecedented heat wave moves through Europe.

Driving the news: The ongoing heat wave could last a total of several weeks and has been accompanied by wildfires in France, Spain and Portugal, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

• Severe heat waves are of particular concern in Europe as they can often prove extremely deadly due to air conditioning being less ubiquitous than in the U.S.
• A complete death toll likely will not be available for weeks or more due to the difficulty in counting excess deaths in a heat event.

The big picture: According to Spain's Carlos III Institute there were 510 heat-related deaths in the country from July 10 to July 16.

• Portugal's Health Ministry announced late Saturday that there had been 659 heat-related deaths over the past week, primarily among the elderly, according to Reuters.
• The heat wave has now moved north into France and the U.K., where the temperatures are poised to break all-time national high-temperature records, creating life-threatening conditions for thousands of people.

What they're saying: "This heat wave has been well forecast for nearly a week, so the hope is that enough lead time will help limit the number of casualties — though, sadly, the toll is already quickly mounting," Steve Bowen, head of catastrophe insight for Aon, told Axios.

• Bowen added that a "notable portion" of European homes are not equipped to handle such heat and that this "really enhances the concern and risk to the most vulnerable segments of the population, such as the elderly or the homeless."

Worth noting: Studies show that as the climate warms, the frequency of heat waves dramatically increases — as does the severity and longevity of such events, / Axios