Heatwave Hold‑out: France goes red. More than half of France is on a red heat alert today as temperatures shot over 40 °C, the highest since records began.
Paris’s iconic streets turned into indoor‑cool‑downs, with pedestrians using electric fans while the Louvre cut its closing time to 16:00 on Friday.
Brittany is praying its power grid can stay alive after a transformer failure that left 68,000 homes without electricity, and a major forest fire was forced to the edge of the night in Maine‑et‑Loire.
The heatwave is expanding into neighboring countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy are all on orange or red alerts. Sunday mornings could see 39 °C and dangerous thunderstorms that might bring flash floods.
Local officials urge everyone to stay hydrated and avoid peak‑heat hours. Over 40 people died in France alone from heat‑related incidents since last Thursday.
Scientists say Europe is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet, turning summer into a battleground for cities and people alike.
