Approximately 68,000 households were without electricity this morning in Brittany, in western France, due to an incident at a transformer connected to the heat, announced the authorities of the Finistère department.
“The cause of the incident was accidental and is linked to the high temperatures currently being observed. This incident did not result in any injuries,” the authorities clarified in a statement they issued.
The Finistère is among the 58 French administrative regions that were placed yesterday, Wednesday, under a red alert for heatwave, which is the highest level of alert.
This is the first power outage of this magnitude reported since the heatwave began.
When the outage occurred near Camber yesterday, Tuesday—which was the hottest day ever recorded in France since measurements began in 1947—up to 106,000 customers were without power. However, since then, efforts to ensure safety and restore power have been ongoing, according to authorities.
The network management teams at RTE and electricity provider Enedis have been mobilized all night and are working toward “a gradual and as rapid as possible restoration,” the prefectural authorities also clarified, having established a prefectural crisis management center.
Power is not expected to be restored to all households affected by this incident until the end of the day at the earliest, according to the authorities, who clarified that power to nursing homes will be provided by generators.
France is currently under a red heatwave alert for the fourth consecutive day. The national temperature index—that is, the average temperature from various reference stations—reached 29.8 degrees Celsius yesterday, Tuesday, according to preliminary data, surpassing the previous records set on July 25, 2019, and August 5, 2003 (29.4 degrees Celsius).
