More than half of France’s regions are under the highest weather warning level. The weather service Météo-France forecast highs of 42 degrees Celsius in Bordeaux on Monday. Hundreds of schools have been closed.
In the southern French city of Carpentras, two toddlers aged two and four were found dead in a family car. The local prosecutor’s office said the exact cause of death had not yet been determined but was likely linked to the heatwave. The children had returned from shopping with their mother and were trapped in the locked car at 39 degrees Celsius.
The heatwave is caused by hot air from the Sahara. Temperatures are expected to peak in many parts of the continent on Wednesday, with Paris forecast to reach 41 degrees Celsius. French railway company SNCF called on vulnerable people to postpone train journeys.
Red alerts have also been issued in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The French government urged people not to seek cooling in unsupervised lakes and rivers after 13 people drowned over the weekend.
Source: www.bbc.com
