{"id":529378,"date":"2026-07-02T12:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/529378\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T12:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:59:15","slug":"air-con-agitation-as-france-braces-for-fresh-heatwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/529378\/","title":{"rendered":"Air-con agitation as France braces for fresh heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of people were besieging Lidl supermarkets in and around Paris today, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking out as residents scrambled to get their hands on bargain air-cooling units before the next heatwave hits the French capital.<\/p>\n

With few air conditioners on sale elsewhere for less than \u20ac1,200 police, were called to at least two stores as huge crowds descended on Lidl supermarkets trying to get their hands on basic models on sale for as low as \u20ac179.<\/p>\n

Mousa Traore, who had been waiting for more than an hour along with some 200 other customers at a small Lidl store in a northern Paris neighbourhood, said he had been told there were only two units on sale.<\/p>\n

“But then the police came and we were told there were none. The police officers took them I think,” he said laughing.<\/p>\n

France has just been through a record heatwave that led to excess deaths, overwhelmed hospitals, closed schools and cancelled music festivals, and weather services are forecasting another round of hot weather this coming weekend.<\/p>\n

Due to historically mild summers, few homes and schools in France are equipped with air conditioning, making them ill-equipped to face increasingly frequent heatwaves that scientists say are linked to global warming.<\/p>\n

Air conditioning has emerged as a political weather vane in France, with the main far-right opposition party criticising the government for not having prepared for hotter weather, and ecologists warning of the heavy energy demands of running air conditioners.<\/p>\n

Even so, the crowd at the Lidl store was mostly good-humoured, but some disputes broke out as people tried to jump the queue.<\/p>\n

“I am not opening the store unless you leave,” a manager shouted, as customers harangued her, with another member of staff saying only two air conditioners had been delivered. He refused to say if they had already been sold.<\/p>\n

Hundreds more descended on a supermarket in Sevran, with cars queuing for the store blocking the centre of the poor northern suburb. It was much the same story in nearby suburb of Livry-Gargan.<\/p>\n

“I give up, it’s madness. I abandoned my car several streets away to get there on foot but there is already a huge queue of people in the car park. It’s impossible,” one local called Lolo said.<\/p>\n

Large wildfire forces evacuations in southern France
\n\"wildfire
\nTemperatures of around 30C combined with strong wind gusts drove the spread of the fire through dry vegetation<\/p>\n

Earlier today, firefighters were battling to bring a \u2060wildfire in the Aude region of southern France under control.<\/p>\n

The local administration for the Aude area, near the border with Spain, posted on X that \u200cweather conditions remained unfavourable because of high \u2060winds which risked \u200cfanning the flames.<\/p>\n

Another wildfire had been \u2060brought \u200cunder control in the Lancon area of southern France, the local \u2060fire brigade said.<\/p>\n

\"This
\nA Canadair CL-415 of the French civil security flies over a wildfire in Pouzols-Minervois, France<\/p>\n

Conditions on the ground were difficult for firefighters, with no access routes in the hilly terrain. Water-dumping aircraft were being used.<\/p>\n

Temperatures of around 30C combined with strong wind gusts drove the spread of the fire through low, very dry vegetation.<\/p>\n

About 200 people were evacuated or confined in the communes of Pouzols-Minervois and Mailhac, officials said.<\/p>\n

Two smaller blazes broke out in Rognac and Lan\u00e7on-Provence near Marseille, according to local firefighters.<\/p>\n

Portugal braces for temperatures of up to 44C<\/p>\n

Parts of Portugal, including the Lisbon region, will be placed on red alert after being relatively spared from Europe’s worst heatwave.<\/p>\n

The country’s IPMA weather agency said that the Lisbon and Setubal regions on the coast will be on red alert for high temperatures today.<\/p>\n

That will be extended tomorrow to the Leiria and Coimbra areas further north, where temperatures could hit 44C in places.<\/p>\n

Oppressive heat hits US for World Cup and 250th celebrations<\/p>\n

Blistering temperatures and humidity gripped swathes of the United States yesterday, with the worst yet to come for the densely populated East Coast as the nation co-hosts the World Cup and prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

‘Heat dome’ conditions – in which high-pressure systems trap warm air like the lid on a pot – persisted over the Midwest and South and were moving east, with some 46 million people under heat alerts.<\/p>\n

“We are entering what could be the most extreme heat wave this city has seen in over a decade,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a video, adding he wanted people to stay safe while watching the World Cup, celebrating the Fourth of July or – he joked – “renting out MSG to get married, hypothetically.”<\/p>\n

\"A
\nTemperatures are expected to hit 38C in New York city today<\/p>\n

Pop superstar Taylor Swift is rumoured to have rented Manhattan’s famed Madison Square Garden venue for her wedding to American football star Travis Kelce.<\/p>\n

New York has designated hundreds of public buildings as cooling centres, extended public swimming pool hours, dispatched volunteers to check on vulnerable residents, and opened “pop up” cooling stations with misting fans and wet towels.<\/p>\n

In the Midwestern city of Chicago, the energy grid was under “critical strain,” utility ComEd said as air conditioning usage surged.<\/p>\n

“Raise your thermostat as high as is comfortably safe,” the company urged, while calling on residents to delay using laundry, dishwashers and electric vehicle chargers until after 8.00 pm.<\/p>\n

From today, the US capital Washington is forecast to have three consecutive days above 100F (38 C) – the highest tomorrow, when the mercury could touch 104F.<\/p>\n

If the forecast bears out, the city’s daily heat records would be broken each day, while Washington’s all-time high temperature of 106F could also be in danger.<\/p>\n

The heat comes as the nation prepares to celebrate on Saturday the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain, with fireworks set to light up the skies over major cities, including New York and Washington.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, football’s World Cup is taking place under punishing conditions.<\/p>\n

A high of 102F (39C) is forecast for Saturday’s clash between Paraguay and France in Philadelphia, where the game will be played in an open-air stadium, unlike some World Cup venues which are air-conditioned.<\/p>\n

This edition of the World Cup requires players to take a three-minute “hydration break” every half.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of people were besieging Lidl supermarkets in and around Paris today, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-529378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}