France was sweltering under another day of extreme heat on Wednesday after recording its hottest day on record – with millions under red alerts, schools closed, power cuts affecting tens of thousands of homes and ministers warning that another spell of exceptional temperatures could last until 14 July.
The national weather service Météo-France placed 58 departments on red alert and another 31 on orange alert. Four northern departments – Aisne, Somme, Nord and Pas-de-Calais – were added to the highest warning level on Wednesday.
Estimates reported by the French news agency AFP showed around 44 million of France's nearly 67 million people were under the highest level of heat alert.
France is likely to see a "relative pause" in the current heatwave next week, Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told the broadcaster France Inter.
"Météo-France tells us there is a strong probability that from the week of 6 July, we will return to extreme heat until 14 July."
A third heatwave in July was also possible, Barbut added.
Provisional data showed France recorded its hottest day since measurements began in 1947 on Tuesday, with an average daytime and nighttime temperature of 29.8C. The figure surpassed previous records set on 25 July 2019 and 5 August 2003.
Several local temperature records also fell, including 43.3C in Cazaux in southwestern France, 42.2C in Niort in western France and 42.1C in Bordeaux.
At 5am on Wednesday, temperatures had already reached 29C in the Atlantic port city of La Rochelle, 27C in Bordeaux and 26C in Paris.
Deaths and closures
Deaths and disruptions continued to mount as the scortching weather stretched into its second week.
At least 48 people have drowned in France since 18 June. Most of the victims were young people, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday.
Two children aged two and four were found dead in a car in Carpentras in southeastern France. Local authorities said the heatwave was the most likely reason for the deaths.
The heatwave has also disrupted the school system. Around 1,800 schools were closed on Wednesday and another 8,000 had to adapt their schedules.
Conditions have become increasingly difficult in factories and on construction sites.
Workers at a Stellantis plant near Mulhouse in eastern France said they would end shifts early from Tuesday to Sunday in protest at conditions during the heatwave.
"Temperatures in some workshops are close to 38C-40C," union representative Salah Keltoumi said.
"You're there assembling parts, but with people who turned up exhausted because they couldn't sleep properly the night before."
Power cuts
Power outages hit parts of Brittany after a heat-related incident damaged an electricity transformer on Tuesday evening.
Around 68,000 households in Finistère, in western Brittany, were left without electricity, the local prefecture said.
"The origin of the incident was accidental and linked to the high temperatures currently being observed," the local authorities said.
"This incident caused no injuries."
Meanwhile the Eiffel Tower closed early on Tuesday and said shorter opening hours were very likely again on Wednesday. The Louvre announced it would close two hours early from Wednesday to Saturday because of the heat.
Europe on alert
At least 94 million people were expected to face temperatures above 35C on Wednesday, most of them in France and Spain, AFP reported.
More than 350 million people – over two-thirds of Europe's population – were expected to see temperatures above 30C.
The World Health Organization's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Wednesday that the heatwave was threatening the health of Europeans and urged governments to invest in more climate-resilient health services.
Scientists said the current heatwave had been intensified by human-caused climate change, with temperatures estimated to be 2C-4C higher than they would otherwise have been.
The heatwave is expected to spread further east in the coming days, with high-level warnings in Poland and red alerts for parts of Croatia's Adriatic coast.
(with newswires)
