"It's hell on earth": Rennes suffocates under a crushing heatwave

All the shutters of her four-room apartment, on the ground floor of a high-rise building, are closed. "Even at night, it's very hot," this woman, who suffers from heart problems, told AFP. "My doctor advised me against going out," she said, "it's dangerous for me."

Work is planned to begin in September to improve the building's insulation; "we'll see if it makes a difference," she says. In the meantime, they have to get through the summer and this exceptional heatwave, with temperatures reaching 40°C in the shade.

To avoid heating up her apartment further, she cooks cold meals: "salads today and tomorrow." From time to time, she turns on her fan, "just for a few minutes because electricity is too expensive."

The Villejean district, west of Rennes, is made up of apartment blocks and towers, up to about twenty stories high. Below, there is concrete and trees, oaks, lindens or plane trees.

A playground, in full sun, is deserted by children.

"Energy-inefficient buildings"

In the neighborhood, "there are many energy-inefficient homes," explains Djibril Themond, an educator, whom we met on a shopping street. This Monday, he kept his two sons with him because the school "isn't suitable"; there's no air conditioning.

"We have fans at home," adds the 46-year-old man. "The more we stay home, the better. We're going shopping now because we have no choice."

"It's hell on earth," exclaims Rosa Nzaba, 49, a construction worker. This formwork carpenter installs the molds into which the concrete is poured. She has just learned that her worksite has closed due to the red heatwave alert, which on Monday affected some fifty French departments, including Ille-et-Vilaine.

"The sun has no mercy. This is Africa," she sighs, still in her orange work clothes.

"We go out, we go to the river, to the pool. The heat? There's nothing we can do about it. We try to hold on," says Houmadi Lailidine, a 25-year-old forklift operator, sitting in the shade of a building with a friend.

Extended swimming pool hours

The city of Rennes activated its heatwave crisis management team on Monday. It announced that swimming pools are now open with extended hours, from 10 a.m. to 20 p.m. In neighborhoods, there are also paddling pools, misting systems, and parks are open 24/24 until the end of the week to provide cool spaces.

Due to the extreme heat, the Rennes street market scheduled for Wednesday, which claims to be the second largest in France after Lille, has been postponed for a week.

"It's horrible, it's super hot in the apartment. I live on the 7th floor. My building is stuck between four buildings and there's no air," laments Maïwenn Degres, a 23-year-old occupational therapy student, who came to the laundromat with some laundry, as she is in the middle of moving.

"In the apartment, we close everything. And then in the street we look for shade, we buy a small fan, we go under the trees, we drink fresh water, a lemonade," she smiles.

Pascal Branchu, 64, lives in a one-bedroom apartment on the 7th floor of a building. "You have a lovely view of the concrete from here," he jokes, opening his shutters. This environmental activist, a former social worker for the department, laments the lack of trees in Rennes.

"Now I'm ready. I have my little glass of water, the bottle, everything I need," he said. At his bedroom window, he had installed two nest boxes that house a brood of tree sparrows and a blue tit, a gesture for biodiversity. He had even set up "a pool" for them, a little water in a plastic container.