France issues ‘red alert’ as south sizzles in late summer heatwave

PARIS – France on Monday afternoon issued a “red alert” – its most serious warning – for four southern regions amid a spell of excessively hot weather, with temperatures expected to peak at 41 deg C in the Rhone valley.

The departments targeted by the alert, which allows the local authorities to call off events and close public facilities if needed, are the Rhone, Drome, Ardeche and Haute-Loire, Meteo France said.

It was the sixth time the French meteorological service had triggered the red alert – part of the government’s programme to protect the population during periods of extreme weather – and the first such incident in 2023.

Earlier on Monday, Meteo France issued an orange alert for half of the country’s territory, saying temperatures will reach between 35 deg C and 38 deg C in most of the affected departments. Peaks of 41 deg C were expected in the south-west and in the Rhone valley.

Temperatures are expected to rise to between 40 deg C and 42 deg C on Tuesday afternoon in the southern departments of Ardeche, Drome, Vaucluse and Gard, Meteo France said.

Separately, French power company EDF said it extended the outage at its 1.3-gigawatt Golfech 2 nuclear reactor in south-western France on Monday because river water used to cool the reactor has surpassed maximum temperatures due to the heatwave.

Some technical issues at the reactor also played a role in delaying the restart to Aug 25, an EDF spokesman told Reuters. The reactor has been offline since March 27 and was scheduled to restart on Sunday.

Water temperature levels for cooling purposes at the Bugey plant and another reactor along the Rhone river in the south-east were also seen surpassing the government’s guidance by Aug 24, Refinitiv data showed.

EDF previously announced production warnings at the Bugey plant. REUTERS