Heatwave: record temperatures, half of the countries in amber alert – Le Point

The scorching temperatures fall down Thursday for a third day in France, half of whose departments are now on alert. Since late Wednesday afternoon, the orange alert for the heat wave concerns 47 departments, 7 more than in the morning. The departments followed are those of the Alsace region, the Ardennes, the Isere, Moselle, Savoie and Haute-Savoie as well as those of Auvergne, Burgundy, France-Comté Ile-de-France, Limousin, which add Ain, Aisne, Aube, Cher, the Dordogne, the Indre, the Loire, the Loiret, Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, Marne, Haute-Marne, the Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, the north, the Rhone and the Vosges.

The heat wave will gradually extend to eastern regions, including Rhone-Alpes winner, according to Météo France. Maximum temperatures expected Thursday will remain in the range of 35-39 ° C. A temporary decline maximum of a few degrees is expected in the day on an axis from the Aquitaine Ile-de-France and Picardy. Wednesday temperature records were broken in Roissy, Nemours, Troyes, Evreux, Beauvais, Rouen, Amiens Lisieux, Dieppe, Boulogne-sur-Mer, where the Melun … fountains were taken over by young and old shady lawns and public parks very popular.

Electric cut near the Gare Saint-Lazare

Paris reached almost 40 degrees, with 39.7 ° C, the temperature higher in the capital since 1947. In the capital, the heat wave has caused a breakdown in the power supply in the middle of the afternoon near the Gare Saint-Lazare, where the traffic was “greatly disturbed” for about a hour, according to SNCF. In the West, the power supply has been restored after a break due to high temperatures that had knocked out power one million homes. Another predictable consequence, in the absence of wind, heat was accompanied by a new episode of ozone pollution (1st level) in Paris and the Rhone-Alpes region.

Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and the president of the Ile-de-France region Jean-Paul Huchon called “circumvention of the Ile-de-France by trucks in transit and the lowering of speed limits on major axes. ” The police chief said that “in the absence of a warning threshold is exceeded,” it was not “able to take measures to restrict traffic.” He called to consider “recommendations to limit pollution sources” (lowering of the speed of 20 km / h, bypassing transit traffic …). It is expected also to many people on the roads this weekend, beginning of summer vacation. Friday and Saturday are classified into two days red Ile-de-France.

Distribution of water bottles

The heat also affect the amount of water. In three rural municipalities of Indre-et-Loire, water bottles were distributed to the inhabitants because of lower water reservoir supplying them. For his part, Manuel Valls called for “solidarity” that must “play full” face the heat. “We must of course” yield to no panic, “said the Prime Minister during a visit to safe Institute of the Association of Our Lady of Joye in Paris (14th arrondissement).