France restricts outdoor sports as heat wave bakes Europe
France has put emergency services and military forces on wildfire alert, restricting public alcohol consumption and canceling some outdoor sports events to cope with a heat wave unfurling across parts of Europe.
About a third of France was under the national weather service’s heat red alert yesterday and temperatures were high nationwide, expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in some areas, in a country where air-conditioning isn’t widespread. The forecast for today is even hotter.
The Eiffel Tower and other Paris venues set up misting stations to cool crowds, among a raft of measures announced by national and local authorities to minimize risks.
More than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes over the last four years, and most of the fatalities were preventable, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Europe office said this month. More above-average temperatures are expected this summer, which can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke .
