PARIS (AP) — Before the heat struck, Amelie Kenney could boast that she almost had it all: a tiny but cheap top-floor apartment in Paris, with an enviable view from its minuscule balcony of the French capital’s iconic gray roofs and even, when she leans out far enough, up to the Sacré-Cœur basilica atop Montmartre.But with a historic heat wave making attic apartments like hers potentially hazardous for health, the 23-year-old recent graduate isn’t feeling quite so fortunate.“It’s been the worst week that we’ve had in this apartment,” she said this week as the capital and other parts of Europe roasted. “It’s just baking in the whole afternoon and it’s impossible to just get a respite.” Many of Paris’ buildings that look so picturesque from the outside are proving to be hostile, even dangerous for health, during the unrelenting record heat that is turning both the long summer days and short sweaty nights into battles.
That’s particularly true for those living directly under the roofs of Paris — who often cannot afford larger, lower-floor apartments less impacted by direct sun. Extreme heat can make them deadly. A study of a record-breaking 2003 heat wave blamed for 15,000 heat-related deaths found that living in a Paris attic room directly under the roof increased the risk of death by more than fourfold, France’s public health agency said in a report last year.
