Geoffrey Branger 06:58, June 17, 2022

France is going through an intense and early heat wave.

Twelve departments have been placed on heatwave red vigilance and 25 others are on orange vigilance, Météo France reported in its update on Thursday 16 June.

The 40 degrees will be frequently reached, even exceeded this Friday.

An unbearable heat which makes France run in slow motion and which can be very expensive.

Twelve departments have been placed on heatwave red vigilance and 25 others are on orange vigilance.

The departments placed in red vigilance are: Tarn, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, Landes, Gironde, Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux- Sèvres, Vienne and Vendée.

40 degrees will be frequently reached in these departments.

This unbearable heat, which makes France run in slow motion, has serious economic consequences. 

A costly health impact

The last waves of heat waves from 2015 to 2020 would have cost between 22 and 37 billion euros, according to a study by Public Health France.

Between the slowdown in economic activity, particularly in the building industry, the cancellation of events, fires or crop losses, billions are going up in smoke.

But according to Olivier Chanel, research director at the CNRS and co-author of the study, it is above all the health impact of these heat waves that is the most expensive.

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"There are impacts on mortality with premature mortality. And there are therefore impacts on the hospital system since there are more cases of SOS Médecins consultations, more cases of consultations in the emergency room, more hospitalizations Finally, there are economic losses which are associated with losses of well-being", he explains on Europe 1. 

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So, if it is still too early to quantify the cost of the heat waves which have affected France for a year, it is obvious for all the specialists that these heat sequences will intensify in the years to come and therefore cost more more expensive.