DIRECT. Record heatwave: 49 departments on red alert; transport disrupted

6:15 a.m. – Train cancellations “to be expected” in Île-de-France

Train cancellations “are to be expected” on several RER and train lines in the Paris region due to the heatwave red alert, according to the Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) website. The RER B, C, D and E, but not A, will be affected, as well as the Transilien lines H, J, K, L, N, P, R and U.

“From Monday June 22, from the start of service, due to the exceptional, and even historic, heat forecast for the Ile de France next week, the rail network will be particularly impacted,” underlines IDFM.

6:09 a.m. – 49 departments on red alert

Forty-nine departments are placed “on red heat wave vigilance”, a record, indicated the Minister Delegate in charge of ecological transition Mathieu Lefèvre while visiting the Météo France branch in Saint-Mandé in Val-de-Marne, east of Paris. Forty departments will still be on orange heatwave vigilance, Météo France indicated.

🔴 49 departments in Red Heatwave Vigilance
🟠 40 departments on orange heatwave vigilance.

Exceptional heatwave episode across the country, with a level of severity possibly close to that of August 2003.

⚠️Be very careful https://t.co/w5OGXbEEhP pic.twitter.com/8obSuP3zxZ

— Météo-France (@meteofrance) June 21, 2026

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Red vigilance will affect nearly 35 million people on Monday, and more than 90% of the French population will be under orange or red vigilance. This is a new record for the number of departments placed on red heat wave vigilance, after a record already this Sunday, where red vigilance concerned 35 departments, and orange vigilance 45.

The night’s news

• The stifling heat that has been hitting the country for almost a week is “going up a notch” with 35 million French people placed on heatwave red alert by Météo France, pushing the authorities to close or reorganize nearly 2,000 educational establishments.

• A fire in the Cher, which has been on heat wave red alert since Sunday, burned 25 hectares of crops while around fifty people had to be evacuated, four firefighters were slightly injured.

• Three people, aged 80 to 95, died on Sunday in Gironde, probably due to the extreme heat.