PARIS Prepares Pools, Parks & 'Cool Rooms' for Predicted Europe HEATWAVE
Last edited Sun Jun 23, 2019, 03:13 PM - Edit history (1)
The Guardian, 6/23/19. French capital still carries trauma of 2003 heatwave, when morgues ran out of space.
Paris pools will host night swimming, large parks will stay open all hours and special “cool rooms” will be set up in town hall buildings as French authorities fear for residents’ health during the anticipated European heatwave.
The French capital still carries the trauma of the 2003 heatwave, which caused many thousands of deaths in France and so many deaths in the Paris area that morgues ran out of space. Elderly people and those living alone without contact with neighbours are a particular concern as the city increases emergency planning. There will be special phonelines, and “cool rooms” will be available between 2pm and 6pm across the capital.
The Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said on Sunday that as many as eight major swimming pools would stay open after 10pm and swimming would be allowed in the canal basin at La Villette. She also said three temporary outdoor pools would be set up for in highly populated, lower-income areas of the city, which would be free to use.
Paris has relatively little green space and has been working for years on how to “green up” and introduce more plants in order to counter the heat held by stone and concrete. Hidalgo told the Journal du Dimanche that 13 large parks would stay open all night during the anticipated heatwave because the temperature there would be one or two degrees lower than in the rest of the city. She said five more parks would be added if the heatwave continued.
The city’s growing homeless population, which includes high numbers of migrants who sleep rough in groups of tents under bridges or by roads, is also a particular concern... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/23/paris-prepares-pools-parks-and-cool-rooms-for-predicted-heatwave
-> France24, "Potentially Dangerous’ Heatwave Set To Strike Europe," June 23, 2019. Intense heat is forecast across much of Continental Europe over the coming days. Temperatures are expected to peak at close to 40°C on Thursday in Paris. And it is unclear how long this heatwave will last. June is typically a month of gentle warmth in Europe, marking the beginning of summer.
However, this year’s June has been anything but gentle. There have been turbulent storms, floods, giant hailstone showers and lightning – and sometimes all during the same day. And now the thermometer is set to dramatically shoot up with an abnormally early heatwave forecast for next week. This unexpected heatwave has been caused by "a storm stalling over the Atlantic Ocean and high pressure over central and eastern Europe", according to international weather site AccuWeather..https://www.france24.com/en/20190623-france-paris-heatwave-europe-weather-hidalgo-buzyn-library-museum-swimming-pool
- Paris canal swimming pool.
~ The summer of 2003 in Europe was a horror. News reports in France told of of running out of morgue space and refrigeration. After following reports for 6 weeks, we decided to proceed with travel plans to No. France in late August and just evaded the worst.
