The French heatwave has driven regular purchasing activities into a frenzy for basic necessities. In a Paris electronics store, people were pouring in in big numbers, carting off bags of electric fans as quickly as they could replenish their stock.
Victoria Yakubov, filmmaker, described her mood perfectly in saying that she didn’t even have her coffee and headed directly to the shop for buying fans. It took them only 30 minutes to sell all the stock. The manager of sales at the store assured that there has been tremendous demand for fans and air conditioners over the last week.
Not Your Average Heat Wave
What sets this particular French heat wave apart is the sheer size of it. It marked the record-hottest day in France this week, when Météo-France declared 54 departments, which is almost half of the entire country, at red alert on the national heat wave warning system. This particular heat wave began from June 17 and has been compared in intensity to two other heat waves, those of August 2003 and July 2019. This heat wave has been attributed to have caused the death of 15,000 people.
Temperatures Crossing 40 Degrees Centigrade
There has been a crossing of temperatures way beyond 38 degrees centigrade which were predicted initially in the capital city. As per Météo-France, temperatures have been recorded rising above 40 degrees Centigrade all over France, and the affected regions being placed under red alerts are experiencing temperatures between 40 and 42 degrees Centigrade. There hasn’t even been any respite at night time, with Paris recording its hottest night of June with temperatures not falling below 24.2 degrees Centigrade.
Human Cost of Empty Shelves
Apart from empty shelves, there is a great human cost that has been seen. Forty drownings have been reported in France within a week because many people have drowned while trying to cool off in the river despite all the warnings given against unsupervised swimming, with the majority of them being young.
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Why There Is Such a Great Surge in the Demand
Air conditioners have not been as popular in French households compared to many other nations, hence, forcing families to depend on the fan as one of the few available means of cooling. This is what has led to all fans being sold in one hour from a shop in Paris.
How Long Is It Going to Last?
According to Météo-France, it is expected that the temperature remains between 38 and 41 degrees Celsius until Thursday, June 25, and cooling starts from Friday, June 26 but at least the temperature will be about 30 degrees Celsius. In Paris, there have been 1,400 cooling islands opened throughout the whole city.
France’s heat wave is part of the greater emergency in Europe with the UK and Spain facing red alerts. The increase in these occurrences is directly related to climate change, considering Europe has been warming at twice the pace of the rest of the world since the 1980s.
Nayab Fatima is a university graduate and an emerging media professional with a strong passion for journalism, research, and independent reporting. She specializes in developing well-researched, fact-based, and analytical news stories covering a wide range of sectors, with particular expertise in technology, telecommunications, aviation, and the automobile industry.
