France braces for heatwave with canal swimming allowed in Paris

PARIS: France braced for another heat wave on Wednesday, with Paris allowing swimming in one of its canals so residents could cope with the heat.

It will be the second spell of hot temperatures this year, after an unusually scorching week in May smashed records in half of the country.

“A heatwave episode will gradually set in across the country this week,” said Christelle Robert, of national weather service Meteo-France.

Temperatures were set to reach 36C or 37C in some areas on Wednesday, then peak at 40C in some regions on Sunday as the country celebrates summer solstice with its annual nationwide music festival, “La Fete de la Musique”.

In Paris, swimming would be allowed from Wednesday evening under lifeguard supervision in one part of the Canal Saint-Martin in the east of the city, mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said on Tuesday evening.

Youth plunged into the canal during the scorching week last month.

“Spending an enormous amount of energy, municipal police, and national police to stop young people from swimming when it was 40 degrees… struck us as slightly absurd,” Gregoire said, however reminding youth that jumping from the bridges was dangerous and remained forbidden.

Alexandra Cordebard, the mayor of the capital’s 10th district, said allowing swimming in the canal earlier than scheduled in July was “a new way of fighting climate change and adapting the city”.

Later in the summer, swimmers will also be able to cool off at designated points along the Seine River, after it reopened to swimmers last summer for the first time in a century.

Paris had poured more than a billion euros ($1.15 billion) into making the waters clean enough to use during the 2024 Olympics.

Studies and scientific bodies agree that heatwaves in Europe are becoming more frequent as a consequence of climate change.

Meteo France says that of the 51 heatwaves recorded nationwide since 1947, 34 have occurred since 2000 and 26 since 2011.

Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations has warned.