Overview
- Météo‑France kept 80 departments on orange canicule alert on Thursday as daytime highs rose to about 38–40°C across large parts of the country.
- The current episode, which began on July 28, reached 17 days on Thursday and thus exceeded the duration of the 2003 heatwave, making it one of the longest on record.
- Record surface dryness and critically low flows in small streams have produced widespread water‑use restrictions that affect tens of millions of people and caused localized tap‑water cuts for over 40,000 residents, according to government and VigiEau data.
- Officials say wildfires have burned roughly 120,000 hectares this summer, forcing evacuations and leaving firefighters stretched while heat‑linked problems reduced availability across parts of EDF’s reactor fleet.
- Ministers have convened crisis meetings and estimated direct and indirect costs of the summer’s repeated heatwaves at about €10–15 billion with knock‑on effects on public health, tourism and local economies as ozone pollution and energy strains persist.