Heat Wave Triggers Power Outage in France

JAKARTA - Around 68,000 families in western France experienced power outages on Wednesday due to an extreme heat wave that hit the country.

The blackout occurred in Finistere, the westernmost region of France. According to local authorities, the number of households affected reached 106,000 families at the peak of the power outage that occurred since Tuesday evening (23/6).

As reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, the disruption was triggered by an incident involving two transformers belonging to the French electricity transmission system operator, RTE, due to high temperatures that hit the area.

The prefect of Finisteremenjelaskan RTE has not been able to restore electricity supply for customers affected on Wednesday, with the recovery process expected to start at the earliest in the evening.

He added that the restoration of electricity supply was prioritized for health facilities and other important infrastructure. Nursing homes that have not been connected to the electricity grid will be assisted with generators.

The blackout occurred when 58 regions in France, including Finistere, were in a red alert status due to a heat wave with temperatures in a number of areas expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the French meteorological agency, Meteo-France, also set a yellow alert status in 31 other regions due to extreme hot weather.