The first major power outage in France due to the heat wave

Caused Record heat wave hitting Europe There was a power outage in about 68,000 homes in northwest France Wednesday, according to what the authorities reported, in the first major power outage the country witnessed during the recent heat wave.

The coastal province of Finistère explained in a statement that the outage, which resulted from a malfunction in an electrical transformer on the network, was linked to high extreme temperatures.

The malfunction occurred around nine o’clock in the evening (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday in the town of Erg-Gabberique near the city of Quimper in the province of Brittany, according to Governorate.

While teams from the two companies operating the French electricity network worked "RTI" RTE and"Enedes" Enedis worked throughout the night to repair the fault, as power is not expected to be fully restored before the end of the day at the earliest.

Power was cut off for up to 106,000 subscribers in the French electricity network until Tuesday evening, with the intense heat wave that swept the European continent, during which France witnessed the highest daily temperatures in its history.

The French Electricity Company announced that "For technical reasons, it will not be possible to reconnect electricity to the affected homes during the day, and the connection will be restored as soon as possible by the end of Wednesday"

Finistère is one of 58 French departments covered by the highest red alert due to the intense heat wave on Wednesday, with temperatures expected to range between 39 and 41 degrees Celsius from Brittany to the Paris region.

Experts attribute these extreme weather conditions to atmospheric and air circulation patterns that keep hot air confined in place for days, and these factors are exacerbated by climate warming.