Heat-related power outages affected part of the city of Lyon and certain streets in the neighboring towns of Villeurbanne and Caluire-et-Cuire on Friday afternoon, the electricity network manager Enedis announced.
KEYSTONE/Jean-Christophe Bott
“The high cumulative heat led to breakdowns in the underground networks,” said Enedis.
Urban areas are more particularly affected by this “exceptional” phenomenon, because “tarred floors accumulate heat which weakens underground cables”, added the spokesperson for Enedis.
Some of the breakdowns were able to be restored in 15 minutes automatically and “in other cases it is longer: Enedis agents must go on site to locate the breakdown”, according to her.
The electricity supplier was not able to give a precise figure of the households affected by these cuts, the situation evolving in real time.
A heatwave episode hit France this week, with peaks of 38°C recorded in Lyon.
ATS