PARIS — France was sweltering through the hottest day on record Friday as the U.S. Women’s team prepared for a blockbuster clash with World Cup hosts France at 3 p.m. ET.
Temperatures in the southern Conqueyrac region, around 20 miles from Montpelier, hit 111 Fahrenheit, the country’s national meteorological service said.
The French national weather service also activated its highest-level heat danger alert for the first time, putting four regions around Marseille and Montpellier in the south of the country under special watch Friday.
Temperatures in the French capital, where the USWNT will play it’s do-or-die quarter final match, withstood lower but still sweltering temperatures of around 90 degrees.
Across the country, about 4,000 schools closed because they couldn’t ensure safe conditions, and local authorities canceled many end-of-school-year carnivals.
To cope with the extreme heat, schools that stayed open were dousing kids with water and nursing homes equipping the elderly with hydration sensors.
Several people have died around the continent in incidents that authorities are linking to the exceptional weather. A major wildfire raged Friday in Spain, sparked when a pile of chicken dung spontaneously combusted in the heat.
In the French capital Paris, tourists and locals withstood lower but still sweltering temperatures of around 90 degrees.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Cathy Taylor, 60, visiting Paris from Seattle for a wedding this weekend. “By late afternoon, I feel like I’m going to wilt and just fall over and die.”
Taylor found reprieve by taking a canal cruise that ended in a breezy spot in the northeast end of the city.
Cruise guide Felix Lacreuse said the heat wave is unusual for this time of year. “Normally it’s August we have one week like this. It’s really worrying about the climate, the environment,” he said.
People across the city looked for places to get away from the heat.
Tariq Drewniak, 21, and his mother Aicha Brahmi headed into a matinee showing of the latest “Toy Story” to take advantage of the cool theatre.
“We have just one fan for five people, in just one room,” Drewniak said of their apartment. If the hot weather continues, he added he’ll be back at the movie theater again tomorrow.
Some have criticized officials for going overboard with their preparations for the hot weather, but Prime Minister Edouard Philippe defended the efforts after 15,000 people died in a heat wave in 2003 that woke France up to the risks.
“This heat wave is exceptional by its intensity and its earliness,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
“Measures have been taken for the most vulnerable people,” he said. “But given the intensity of the heat wave, it’s the entire population who must be careful today … both for oneself and for loved ones and neighbors.”
Linda Givetash reported from Paris, Alexander Smith from London.
Associated Press contributed.
