France Heatwave: 68,000 Homes Without Power in First Major Outage
Authorities in northwestern France reported that approximately 68,000 households lost electricity on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, due to a transformer failure linked to extreme temperatures. This is the first major power outage caused by the ongoing heatwave in the country.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday, June 23, in the commune of Ergue-Gaberic near Quimper in Brittany. The prefecture of Finistere confirmed that no injuries were reported.
Teams from French grid operators RTE and Enedis worked through the night to repair the damage. However, power restoration is not expected to be completed until the end of Wednesday at the earliest. RTE stated that for technical reasons, reconnection would not be possible during the day.
The outage affected a total of 106,000 clients across the region by late Tuesday, as the heatwave pushed France into its hottest day on record. Finistere is one of 58 departments under the highest red alert for extreme heat, with temperatures forecast to reach 39°C to 41°C from Brittany to the Paris region.
Experts attribute the prolonged extreme weather to atmospheric circulation patterns that trap hot air, worsened by global warming. The situation underscores the strain on infrastructure during climate-related events.
