Major power outage in France as Europe wilts under record heat

PARIS: Temperatures climbed across Europe again on Wednesday (Jun 24), as a record-breaking heatwave left tens of thousands of people without power and boosted air conditioner sales on a continent unused and ill-equipped to handle searing heat.

The extreme weather is being driven by atmospheric patterns that keep hot air trapped in place for days, with these factors worsened by global warming, experts say.

France’s national temperature indicator – an average of daytime and nighttime temperatures across 30 stations – reached 29.8°C on Tuesday, the hottest since measurements began in 1947.

With four more French departments being put under the highest heat alert category Wednesday, around 44 million people are affected, according to AFP calculations.

Added to the 31 departments currently on orange alert, more than 90 per cent of the French population is exposed to extreme heat, with temperatures of 39°C to 41°C expected on Wednesday from Brittany in the northwest to the Paris region, and in much of the southwest.

The heatwave caused the country’s first major power outage of the latest bout of extreme weather, after a heat-related incident with a transformer left around 68,000 households on Wednesday without electricity in the northwestern Finistere department, the authorities said.

While teams worked through the night to fix the issue, which took place late Tuesday, power is not expected to be restored in full until the end of Wednesday at the earliest.

Up to 106,000 clients were left without power by late Tuesday, as the scorching temperatures strain infrastructure built for the days before man-driven climate change made heatwaves longer, more frequent and more intense, according to scientists.

Sales of fans and air conditioners skyrocketed in a country where most buildings are not designed to cope with extreme heat.

On Monday, hypermarket operator Carrefour had sold 30,000 units by 6:30 pm – “a thousand times more than on a normal day”, CEO Alexandre Bompard said.

Sales on Amazon nearly doubled last week compared with the same period in 2025, while the electronics outlet Fnac Darty reported double-digit growth.

Thierry, an electrician in southwest France, said he was overwhelmed by requests for “emergency” air-conditioning installations.

“In theory, you have to submit a request to the owners’ association general meeting” in residential complexes, “but people don’t want to wait”.

Across the Channel, engineer Yana Markevich complained to AFP about legal restrictions in the UK on installing air conditioning, which has been criticised by some green campaigners for its high energy consumption.

“We already live in a world where heatwaves are becoming more intense. I don’t think denying ordinary people access to proper cooling in their own homes is a serious climate policy,” said the London resident, who has started a petition to make it easier for some homeowners to fit units.