Paris dream turns to nightmare as rooftop dwellers bake in historic heatwave
Key takeaways
- By: FRANCE 24 The extreme weather in the French capital is especially grueling for residents living in top-floor apartments ill-suited to record-high temperatures.
- But with a historic heatwave making attic apartments like hers potentially hazardous for health, the 23-year-old recent graduate isn't feeling quite so fortunate.
- “It’s been the worst week that we’ve had in this apartment,” she said this week as the capital and other parts of Europe roasted. “It’s just baking in the whole afternoon and it’s impossible to just get a respite.”
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The unrelenting heatwave pummeling France has turned the iconic zinc roofs of Paris into a nightmare and a health hazard for people living directly underneath in often cramped attic dwellings that retain the searing heat and are impossible to ventilate.
By: FRANCE 24 The extreme weather in the French capital is especially grueling for residents living in top-floor apartments ill-suited to record-high temperatures. © Lucien Libert, Reuters Before the heat struck, Amelie Kenney could boast that she almost had it all: a tiny but cheap top-floor apartment in Paris, with an enviable view from its minuscule balcony of the French capital's iconic gray roofs and even, when she leans out far enough, up to the Sacré-Cœur basilica atop Montmartre.
But with a historic heatwave making attic apartments like hers potentially hazardous for health, the 23-year-old recent graduate isn't feeling quite so fortunate.