After a slight lull on Thursday, due to thunderstorms, the thermometer goes back on Friday, with 70 departments placed in orange alert by Météo-France, on the eighth day of the heat wave which affects the country and southern Europe. Mercury must reach 40 ° C again – “Punctually more” – In the southwest, the last bulletin of the Institute indicates, which also provides very strong temperatures “on the Mediterranean arc”.
The heat wave wins Brittany
With 35 degrees announced, “the heat wave also wins Brittany, hitherto spared”, notes the national forecastist, while “regresses” in the north of the country, classified in green. Ile-de-France has not been in orange vigilance for 6 hours this Friday and the lifting of this alert level is also scheduled for Loiret, Yonne, Dawn and Haute-Marne from 10 p.m.
On the other hand, the thermometer rises in Finistère, Morbihan, the Atlantic Loire, Maine et Loire, the two Sèvres, Vienne, Indre-et-Loire, Loir et Cher and the Atlantic Pyrenees which will switch to Orange on Friday. The current heat wave for eight days must last at least until Tuesday but “at this stage, we do not envisage red vigilance for this weekend,” said Damien Griffaut, Météo-France, Thursday during a press point.
The time therefore remains to adapt to heat to which the elderly and isolated are particularly vulnerable, even if prevention has improved since the deadly heat wave of 2003. In Bordeaux, which had broken its heat record on Monday with 41.6 ° C, a municipal register lists more than 3,600 “fragile” people, including a quarter of “isolated seniors”. The town hall decided to open, Friday and Saturday afternoon, three air-conditioned reception places for the elderly; Museums and three swimming pools will also be open on this holiday, among other exceptional measures.
Southwest suffocates
Simon-Pierre Van Ginneken, a 44-year-old father, however decided to flee the 32 degrees of his apartment in the north of the city to “take refuge” with friends in Ille-et-Vilaine (Department of Yellow Vigilance only) for the next three days. “I have a two-year-old little girl, it quickly becomes suffocating for her, so we’re going to roll for six hours on Friday morning but it will save her three scorching days from sleeping badly,” he explains, aware, however, that in the village where he goes, more than 30 ° C are announced.
In the Landes, where the Feria de Dax is held until Sunday, which brings together several hundred thousand people every year, the municipality canceled certain animations on Friday “due to the hot weather”. The risk of fire will also be high in the coming days in the south and the center-west, due to drought and winds.
From Saturday, “we have the establishment of a tramontane and a Mistral on average Rhône valley. Even if they are moderate, this will lead to risks “of risks, particularly marked on the Aude and the Drôme which” will pass in danger of very high fire, therefore in red, “added the forecourt of Météo-France. New thunderstorms, early next week, should lower temperatures according to the institute and put an end to this new episode of heat wave, the second of the summer and the 51e in France since 1947.
