Heatwave in a Carcassonne council estate, without even a fan

Faced with the sweltering 37 degrees Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit) that suffocates the city, Wakifati Hamadi often takes his children, aged three to XNUMX, "under the water jets in the city center" and even considers "installing an inflatable pool on the balcony."

"It's hard! It's hotter than Reunion Island," she sighs, as the burning air dries her lips.

Having arrived in mainland France three months ago, this Réunion woman lives with her baker partner and their children in a five-room apartment on the third floor of a tower block in the La Conte district, "without a fan or air conditioning."

Around 13:00 p.m., when the sun is at its zenith, the streets of La Conte are empty. The shutters of most shops are closed.

In one of the only ones open, Ayoub Belhaj, 31, came to enjoy the coolness of the air conditioning on his lunch break, before returning to work under the tin roof of his company's hangar, where "it easily gets to 49 degrees," explains this hydraulic technician.

"Unequal in the face of heat"

"We're not all equal when it comes to the heat (...) The poor guy leaves the factory and goes to his apartment where there's no air conditioning," the young man sums up.

In the housing projects, "there's no air conditioning (...) no means," laments Mohamed Binaoui. Behind the wheel of his car, parked at the foot of a building, he points out the lack of maintenance in La Conte, the consequences of which are exacerbated by the heatwave.

"The garbage remained there for a week (...) It was a pestilential, unbearable smell," says the fifty-year-old.

Without shade, as the heat beats down on the asphalt, Mohamed Binaoui, like many of the neighborhood's residents, only goes out to go to the mosque. The call to prayer is the only time the city comes alive.

"People don't go out in the afternoon; they wait until the evening," says Trevor Crégore, manager of the Carcassonne bowling alley. Bare-chested, fan pointed toward his face, he hasn't welcomed a single bowler all day. The pétanque court is deserted.

"It's the first warm spell, we'll have to get used to it," he says. For him, the temperature is still bearable in his establishment. It's "cooler than in the council houses," he says.

"Less vegetation"

Yet the beach is only an hour away by car. Getting there "costs too much," laments Wakifati Hamadi, who is far from alone in this situation, in La Conte or in other disadvantaged neighborhoods of Carcassonne, such as Le Viguier, another major housing project in the city.

Cathy Caceres, head of the Viguier community center, the eleventh poorest neighborhood in France in 2021, according to INSEE, confirms: "Many parents can't take their children to the beach. Gas, food, planning a picnic (...) it adds up to a lot of costs."

"More and more children are not going on holiday" due to lack of means and are spending the summer at home "without air conditioning", especially since, in addition to the financial aspect, installing a device requires the landlord's permission, she adds.

In the event of extreme heat, "disadvantaged populations are more vulnerable," with "fewer resources to adapt their housing" and "will find it more difficult to leave the city when it is too hot," summarizes Quentin Gautier, head of the Territory department at Cerema (center for studies and expertise on risks, the environment, mobility and planning) Occitanie.

Aude, like the Pyrénées-Orientales, is one of the poorest departments in France and also one of the hottest.

In most medium-sized towns, such as Carcassonne, "the poorest people live in the city centers," which are the "densest" areas, "with the least vegetation," and therefore "most exposed to the heat," explains Mr. Gautier.