This Wednesday morning, there are only 14 departments left in heat wave orange vigilance in France. After the heat peak of Monday and Tuesday, the heat wave now only concerns a very eastern part of France, the two Alsatian departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin and further south, 12 other departments ranging from Rhône to Gard and Haute-Savoie in the Alpes-Maritimes. 9 departments are also on orange alert for storm risks. The two Alsatian departments combine the two vigilancesi.e. 21 departments concerned by orange vigilance this Wednesday morning.
Tuesday, in comparison, 58 departments had been placed by Météo France in heat wave orange vigilance, especially in the North and East of France. Also on Tuesday, new absolute temperature records were recorded in the northwest, such as in Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), with 40.4°C, or 39.6°C in Boulogne-sur-Mer (No Calais).
And on Monday, 64 municipalities, especially in Brittany, on the Atlantic coast and in the south-west, broke absolute heat records. It’s not just in France that we’re suffocating, it’s the case for all of Europe, with an absolute heat record also broken in the United Kingdom: it was 40°C in London on Tuesday.
In the Gard, the city of Nîmes also asks residents to limit their water consumption in the face of drought. These high temperatures also caused brief power cuts in places on Tuesday in France.