European heat: France braces for another day of warm temperatures.

At 5pm, La Rochelle, in the south-west, had already recorded a temperature of 29C, the forecast said, with a further 43C possible in the region.

High temperatures of 39 to 40C are forecast for much of the west of the country from Paris to Brittany and are expected to remain at similar levels through the weekend.

On Tuesday, when the temperature peaked, parts of South West Lands recorded a high of 44.3C.

Some relief from the heat is expected from Friday, with temperatures forecast to gradually drop over the weekend. This change is accompanied by thunderstorms, which bring flooding and large hail.

“We are in the process of finding out if we are a warm country,” Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farando told French radio.

The heat caused the country’s first major power outages, with nearly 68,000 homes in the northwest Finisterre region without power on Tuesday night due to a transformer problem, officials said. Power isn’t expected to be restored for everyone until late Wednesday, initially.

Elsewhere in the Maine-et-Loire region, more than 150 firefighters were deployed to battle a massive fire in the Bregnon forest in Saint-Macaire-du-Bois on Tuesday. He was arrested overnight, authorities said.

Sights in the French capital, Paris, have been affected by the hot weather.

The Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, said it was bringing back its closing hours from Wednesday to Saturday from 18:00 to 16:00 local time.

The Louvre said the historic building was “dilapidated, out-of-date and inadequately adapted to climate change”.

Among the heat wave-related deaths in France was a 13-year-old girl who went swimming with her family in the River Seine at Fontaine-la-Port on Sunday evening; Even though she didn’t know her core.

Several drownings were also reported in Germany.

Spain has experienced baking heat over the past few days, with temperatures expected to drop across the Iberian Peninsula on Wednesday.

But red heat alerts remain in place for parts of northern Spain, with a maximum temperature of 42C in parts of the Basque Country, forecaster Amet said.

In Italy, meanwhile, 16 regional capitals are now under red heat alerts, Latina was added to the list on Wednesday, and Bari will be added on Thursday, the Italian news agency Ansa said.