France spends the hottest night since there are records: they close the Eiffel Tower and there are already 40 dead

On Monday, two children died of suffocation and locked in their car in Carpentras, Provence, when their mother went to the market and the temperature it exceeded 37 degrees.

The heat wave also caused 40 drowning deaths since June 18, mainly young people. And three elderly people died in their homes in the southwest of the country.

It is more than 40 degrees in 20% of the territory, according to Météo-France. It will be the week with the highest temperatures in history.

The exceptional heat wave sweeping France continued to spread across the northwest on Tuesday, with more than half of the country on red alert, an unprecedented level. Paris had the same temperature as Dubai this Tuesday.

Five additional departments – Calvados, Eure, Manche, Seine-Maritime and Somme – moved to the highest alert level defined by Météo-France at midday.

With a total of 54 departments on red alert due to a heat wave and another 35 on orange alert, more than 90% of the French population is exposed to extreme heat. extreme and exceptional.

Several major cities broke historical temperature records on Monday: 40.9°C in Angers (Maine-et-Loire), 42°C in Saintes (Charente-Maritime) and 41.9°C in Bordeaux (Gironde). The highest temperature of the day was recorded in Châteaumeillant (Cher), with 43.3 °C. This Tuesday the temperature reached 43 degrees in Vendée.

In the tall towers of La Défense, the Parisian financial circuit, the refrigeration plant cannot produce enough ice during the night to cool the towers. Working there is like being in an oven.

The Eiffel Tower closed on Tuesday, at 4 p.m., due to high temperatures. 40 degrees are expected in Paris.

The children were found dead in Carpentras. They would have locked themselves in the car to play, while the temperatures exceeded 32 ° C in the shade and their mother was at the market.

The two children, 2 and 4 years old, They were found in the family car by their mother, early in the afternoon. The vehicle was parked in the driveway of the house, in direct sunlight, according to the prosecution.

The children were unconscious and in cardiac arrest. The mother called the emergency room around 1:20 in the afternoon. Firefighters arrived and tried to revive the two children, but were unsuccessful. The 33-year-old mother was also treated by emergency services.

Apparently, the children locked themselves inside the vehicle. An investigation has been opened for “involuntary manslaughter.” The prosecutor and forensic experts went to the scene.

The bodies were transferred to the forensic institute.

After the tragedy, the entire neighborhood is shocked. From her window, Amandine Mighali, a neighbor, watched firefighters and paramedics come and go. “I’m shocked,” the mother of six told AFP. “Practically we all know each other, we often heard the children. They had an incredible joie de vivre,” he added.

With 38°C in the classroom, schools are not prepared for the new heat waves in France. But many teachers resist air conditioningwhich families want to install, because they believe it leaves the living room too cold.

French schools face the complex challenge of thermal rehabilitation of buildings.

“The teacher called me to complain because it was too cold.” The statement sounds dismissive, given that France has been experiencing an exceptional heat wave for the past few days. But, for Fabrice Vely, the city’s mayor, that is its truth.

In the north of France there is enormous resistance to air conditioning in defense of climate change. The buildings are prepared for winter, but not for this tremendous “canicule” of June.

Its installation must be authorized by the mayor’s office and, in historic buildings, by French heritage architects. The same thing happens with the parasols that cover the balconies.. These heritage conservation standards seem increasingly most inappropriate for climate challenges.

The UDR group, chaired by the mayor of Nice, Eric Ciotti, announced the proposal of a law to force all schools, lyceums and nursing homes in France to be air-conditioned.

“There is no fatality. France must modernize and protect the most fragile,” Eric Ciotti wrote on social networks.

Neighbors, friends and family help each other in this unbearable heat wave. Those who have a portable air conditioner or more fans invite others to live in their home. Some move to an air-conditioned hotel or they sleep on the benches in the square, looking for a more bearable temperature.

Cinemas invite residents to settle into their air-conditioned rooms, and public swimming pools are free and They are overflowing.

The Saint-Martin canal, in the heart of Paris, has been transformed into the city’s new spa. Thousands of people bathe and jump off bridges, although bathing is not yet authorized.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu urged ministers to refrain from traveling this week so that government services can focus on the heat wave.

The prime minister asked members of his government to give up their trips for “reasons of prudence”given that ministerial trips require significant state resources. “So that the government and state services can fully mobilize to manage the heat wave,” the source explained.

Sébastien Lecornu announced a strengthening of the mobilization of the health system in response to the heat wave affecting the country, activating the Orsan Plan at level 2 of 4.

“This decision will strengthen the capacity for medical regulation, mobilize the personnel necessary for the operation of hospitals, guarantee full coordination between general practitioners, hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, and allow activities to be adapted if the situation requires it,” explained the prime minister on the social network X.

The Orsan Plan makes it possible to “organize the reinforcement of the health system in the face of an intense heat wave” and “progressively activate resources in hospitals, emergency medical services (SMUR), family doctors and social care centers depending on the level of pressure”, according to the Ministry of Health. Level 2 includes, for example, the possible rescheduling of surgeries “if necessary.”

“The ‘canicule’ in Europe is sometimes a matter of life and death for the most fragile,” the Red Cross said. “They may find themselves in danger of death in the absence of adapted actions,” he warned and called for protecting the vulnerable.

Trains are suspended because they break. The airways dilate and the air conditioning stops working. In Europe, the heat wave is putting railways to the test as the infrastructure, one of the oldest in the world, has not always been well maintained.

When older rolling stock, such as Intercités trains on the Paris-Clermont, Paris-Limoges-Toulouse or Marseille-Toulouse linescannot withstand extreme heatthe SNCF removes them to prevent passengers from traveling in what they call “rolling eggs”.

Your air conditioning systems turn off above a certain temperature. These Corail trains They date from the late 1970s. At that time, climate change of this magnitude was not anticipated.

The SNCF has preventively canceled 10% of trains in the Île-de-France region this week to limit overheating of the tracks, prevent any risk of deformation and try to protect the catenaries, which warp in the heat and end up being torn off by the passage of trains.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced on Tuesday the suspension of inspections on agricultural holdings in the departments affected by the Météo-France heat wave red alert, as well as a measure relating to the clearing of fallow land to prevent fires, which have already started in the south.

“The current heat wave, exceptional for its precocity and intensity, represents a particular challenge for the agricultural sector, whose activities are very vulnerable to the effects of extreme temperatures,” the Ministry stressed in a press release.

Given the risk of forest firesprefects can order weed clearingincluding in fallow areas, which are considered agroecological infrastructure and therefore eligible for CAP subsidies when they are not cleared. The announced measure will allow farms subject to the obligation to clear brush to continue opting for subsidies.

He asked the agricultural unions, which met at the Ministry on Monday, and the agricultural chambers to intensify their support for producers and disseminate best practices for better adaptation to the heat wave.

All the British seem to have arrived from the Costa Brava. Tanned or pink, they have been enjoying a sun that they cannot always enjoy in the kingdom.

Temperatures exceed 30 degrees in the country. There are school closures and record temperatures expected in the UK.

Some English schools will close earlier than usual on Tuesday. Others will remain closed until Thursday night to protect children from the heat. The UK is bracing for unprecedented temperatures for three days.

The record temperature for June – 35.6 ° C, recorded in 1976 and 1957 – could be broken as early as Tuesday, with 37 ° C predicted in the south of England.

The Met Office has issued a rare red heatwave alert for Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures potentially reaching 40C in some parts of southern England, including the country’s two largest cities, London and Birmingham.

This alert had only been issued once before, in July 2022, when the United Kingdom broke its all-time temperature record at 40.3°C. An orange alert remains in place throughout England, from south to north, as far as Manchester.

Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and western Germany are suffering from the same heat wave. Italy declared red alert in 15 cities.