France blames US for deadly heatwave

Paris official hits back at mockery over lack of air conditioning, saying America shares responsibility for record-breaking temperatures

A Paris official has said she holds the US partially responsible for the record-breaking heatwave in France.

The comments were made as part of a scathing rebuke to American tourists, immigrants and expats who have been criticising France for its lack of air conditioning across the country.

Over the past week, the transatlantic discourse online has also been heating up, with some Americans – many living in desert and tropical climes in the southern US – mocking the French and Western Europeans for not being able to withstand temperatures to which they are accustomed to every year.

“Dear American journalists and social media ‘influencers’: for days, some of you have been criticising and making fun of Paris because the city does not have A/C in every room...OMG, this is so rich!” wrote Audrey Pulvar, deputy mayor of Paris for international relations, on social media.

“As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, you bear a significant amount of responsibility for global warming and the consequences we, in France, are experiencing. Your cities, which are 90 per cent air conditioned, are not unrelated to this.”

After listing Paris’s green initiatives, Ms Pulvar ended her posts by criticising the US for what she described as the country’s disdain for the planet. “So please, enough with the lecture. Just start doing your part. Best regards.”

Unlike the US, where air conditioning is common, in France only one in four households has air conditioning. Historically, the French have been sceptical about air conditioning: an Ipsos survey published earlier this month found that 78 per cent of French people believe that it’s bad for the environment and one in six respondents said they would rather suffer for the sake of the planet.

But last week’s record-breaking temperatures have shown that attitudes have shifted, with retailers across the country selling out of portable air conditioning units and videos capturing shoppers forming long queues and tearing at pallets holding units freshly offloaded from delivery trucks.

Preliminary mortality figures released Sunday by Public Health France show that the country has registered 1,000 more deaths than previous months since the peak of the heatwave on Wednesday, when temperatures edged past the 40C threshold in many parts of France. The number of home deaths also spiked by 40 per cent during that time.

But the minister of health also warned that heat-related illnesses can last long after the heatwave has ended, and that the mortality rate could rise.

“The extreme heat of the last few days is having a delayed effect, particularly on vulnerable people but also on some younger people, who sometimes turn up at A&E five to ten days after the heatwave,” Stephanie Rist said in an interview with La Tribune newspaper on Sunday.

“For people with chronic conditions, this effect can last for several weeks,” she added, saying she expected “the strain on the hospital system to continue even after temperatures have fallen”.

In Paris, emergency services responded to 3,400 calls – four times higher than average – and treated 30 cardiac arrests during a 24-hour period ending Friday.

In the department of Yvelines, west of Paris, the heatwave claimed the life of a 12-year-old girl who died of heatstroke on Friday, while her 15-year-old brother was saved by paramedics.

So far, 74 people seeking respite from the heat have also died by drowning in France, including a man who drowned in Paris’s Canal Saint-Martin while swimming outside the authorised swimming zone.

Throughout the week, desperate Parisians living in overheated apartments slept in public parks, turning green spaces such as the Buttes-Chaumont in the northeast into an open-air hotel, or booked hotel rooms with air conditioning, steps from their apartment.

While thunderstorms helped cool the French capital Sunday night, lightning strikes cut power to 36,000 households in Aisne, Yvelines and Indre-et-Loire.

In Paris, 1,300 households have also been without electricity for 30 hours after outages hit the south and eastern parts of the city Saturday, cutting power to lifts in high-rise apartments, fridges and fans.

“There’s still time to knock on your neighbour’s door if they’re isolated,” Ms Rist said Sunday. “Everyone must take responsibility.”

Link / archive