Europe Heatwave: France BANS Outdoor Events As Parts Of The Country Hit 40C

France BANS outdoor events as parts of the country hit 40C as record-breaking heatwave sweeps Europe with a number of hospitals ‘at capacity’

A punishing heatwave broke a string of records in France today which banned outdoor events as a heatwave swept across Europe.

Temperatures were seen to hit around the mid-30s in Spain and France today – expected to hit the 40s in most areas – while the mercury has topped 44C in Montpellier and 46C in Bilbao.

The French health minister said it has also seen ‘hospitals at capacity, but keeping up with demand’ as the ‘earliest heatwave ever recorded’ in 75 years hit.

In Gironde, southwest of France, public events outdoors have been banned ‘until the heatwave ends’. Indoor events at venues without air-conditioning are also prohibited, but private celebrations, such as weddings, are still allowed.

Meanwhile schoolchildren in the 12 ‘red alert’ areas were told to stay home, and care home residents were rotated through air-conditioned rooms.

‘Everyone now faces a health risk,’ local official Fabienne Buccio told France Bleu radio.

In Spain, forest fires burned up to 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of land in the northwest Sierra de la Culebra region today, forcing some 200 people from their homes.

‘Avoid over-exposing to the sun, hydrate and take care of the most vulnerable so they don’t suffer from heat stroke,’ was the advice from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid.

The UK recorded its hottest day of the year today with temperatures reaching over 30C – expected to climb to 34C – in the early afternoon, forecasters also said.

‘This is the earliest heatwave ever recorded in France’ since 1947, said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at weather authority Meteo France.

With ‘many monthly or even all-time temperature records likely to be beaten in several regions,’ he called the unseasonable weather a ‘marker of climate change’.

In France, special measures have been taken in care homes for elderly people, still marked by the memory of a deadly 2003 heatwave.

Buildings are being sprayed down with water to cool them and residents are being rotated through air-conditioned rooms.

‘We’re taking even more care than usual with the old folks. It’s tough for them. They’re often alone, worn down physically and unable to act independently,’ said Sarah Jalabert, a nurse making home visits in the Tarn department.

‘I’m 86 years old, I was born here, but I think this is the worst heatwave I’ve ever seen,’ Jacqueline Bonnaud also told the AFP news agency in the southern city of Toulouse.