As of 5am local time, La Rochelle in the southwest had already recorded a temperature of 29C, the forecaster said, with a high of 43C possible later in the day in the region.
Most of the west of the country, from Paris to Brittany, is forecast to see maximum temperatures of 39 to 40 degrees Celsius, which will remain the same until the weekend.
Temperatures reached their peak on Tuesday, with some parts of Landau in the southwest recording a maximum of 44.3 degrees.
Some relief from the heat is expected from Friday, and temperatures are expected to gradually drop over the weekend. This change will lead to thunderstorms that will lead to the risk of flash flooding and large hail.
Speaking to French radio, Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou said “we are in the process of finding out that we have become a hot country.”
The heat caused the country’s first major blackout, with around 68,000 homes without power in the north-west region of Finisterre on Tuesday night due to a transformer problem, authorities said. Power is expected to be restored to everyone no earlier than Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the Maine and Loire regions, more than 150 firefighters were deployed to fight a major fire on Tuesday in the Breignon forest in Saint-Macher-du-Bois. Authorities said it was brought under control overnight.
The hot weather also affected the sights of the French capital, Paris.
The world’s most visited museum, the Louvre, said it was moving its closing time from Wednesday to Saturday from 6pm to 4pm local time.
The Louvre said its historic building “remains fragile, external and poorly adapted to climate change”, adding that “heat build-up is greatest at the end of the day and is exacerbated by the number of visitors”.
In France, among those who died in heat-related incidents was a 13-year-old girl who went for a dip with her family in the Seine River in Fontaine-la-Porte on Sunday evening, even though she could not swim.
Several cases of drowning have also been recorded in Germany.
While Spain has been hot for the past few days, temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula are expected to start to drop on Wednesday.
But a red heat warning remains in place for parts of northern Spain, with a maximum temperature of 42C possible in parts of the Basque Country, forecaster Emmett said.
Meanwhile in Italy, 16 provincial capitals are now under red heat warning, with Latino added to the list on Wednesday and Bari to be added on Thursday, Italian news agency Ansa said.
