Power outage in France as Europe bakes in record heat

Italy’s Ministry of Health declares red heatwave alert in 16 cities, including Milan and Rome, as schools close in UK.Much of Western Europe is bracing for another day of a sweltering heatwave that has smashed temperature records in many countries and left tens of thousands of people without power in France.The extreme weather is being driven by atmospheric and circulation patterns that keep hot air trapped in place for days, causing the mercury to slowly rise, as global warming exacerbates these factors, experts said.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Europe heatwave scorches cities and wildlifelist 2 of 4France records hottest-ever day as 40 drown trying to escape heatwavelist 3 of 4Deadly heatwave grips Europe as temperatures soar across continentlist 4 of 4Nearly all children globally exposed to at least one climate hazard: Reportend of listFrance’s national temperature indicator – an average of daytime and nighttime temperatures across 30 stations – reached 29.8 degrees Celsius (85.64 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, the hottest since measurements began in 1947.The heatwave caused the country’s first major power outage of this latest bout of extreme weather after a heat-related incident with a transformer left about 68,000 households on Wednesday without electricity in the northwestern department of Finistere, authorities said.While teams worked through the night to fix the issue, which took place late on Tuesday, power is not expected to be restored in full until the end of Wednesday at the earliest.Up to 106,000 clients of the French power network were left without power by late Tuesday as the scorching temperatures strained infrastructure built before man-driven climate change made heatwaves longer, more frequent and more intense, according to scientists.Sales of fans and air conditioners, meanwhile, skyrocketed in a country where most buildings are not designed to deal with extreme heat.Added to the 31 departments currently on orange alert, more than 90 percent of the French population is exposed to extreme heat with temperatures of 39C to 41C (102.2F to 105.8F) expected on Wednesday from Brittany to Paris and in much of the southwest.Hundreds of British schools planned to close or close early this week because of the heat while many train services were reduced to avoid heat-related problems on the rail lines.