Heatwave spreads across Europe, France records hottest day ever

A heat-related outage left about 68,000 households without electricity in western Brittany as France endured its hottest day ever, turning the latest heatwave into a test of power lines, schools and transport. The country recorded a provisional national temperature indicator of 29.8C on Tuesday, while Les Herbiers in southwestern France reached 43C.

Nearly two-thirds of the country was under orange heatwave alert, with red alerts also issued in parts of Europe as the hot weather moved across the continent. The heatwave was expected to spread to other parts of western Europe on Wednesday and then push east over the weekend, with the Netherlands and Belgium peaking on Friday and Germany potentially reaching 40C.

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said about 10,000 of the 130,000 candidates sitting the baccalaureate oral exams had their tests rescheduled this week. School closures, cancelled and postponed sports and public events, and restricted visiting hours at tourist sites followed, with access limited at landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

France's prime minister said 40 people had drowned in recent days as they tried to cool off.

Forecasters issued severe heat warnings later in the week for Poland, Croatia and Hungary. In Paris, temperatures were expected to rise above 40C for the first time on a June day.