France: 68,000 households without electricity amid record-breaking heatwave
What's the story
A record-breaking heatwave in France has resulted in a major power outage, leaving nearly 68,000 households without electricity. The incident is the first of its kind during this latest round of extreme weather conditions. The outage was caused by a failure on the electricity grid and was directly related to the scorching temperatures. Fortunately, no injuries were reported due to this incident.
Restoration efforts
Full power restoration not expected until end of today
The power outage occurred around 9:00pm on Tuesday (local time) in Ergue-Gaberic, a town near Quimper in Brittany. Despite the immediate response from teams at French grid operators RTE and Enedis, full power restoration is not expected until at least the end of today. "For technical reasons, RTE will not be able to re-connect the affected households during the course of the day; connections will be made, at the earliest, by the end of Wednesday," said an operator.
Ongoing heatwave
Red alert for extreme heat
The extreme weather conditions have prompted a red alert for extreme heat in 58 French departments, including Finistere where the power outage occurred. Temperatures are expected to reach between 39 degree Celsius and 41 degree Celsius today, from Brittany to the Paris region. The ongoing heatwave is being driven by atmospheric and circulation patterns that trap hot air for days at a time, exacerbated by climate change.