PARIS -- "Chaotic all over the territory," warned a French weather forecast recently. This was not, however, the remake, feared by so many, of the August 2003 heat wave, which contributed to 15,000 extra deaths that month.
The government had sworn that everything would be done in hospitals and retirement homes this year to allay the effects of weather, but everyone knew that, in most cases, conditions had not been improved enough to eliminate all possible surprises. Sales of hundreds of thousands of electric fans and air conditioners in early April fed speculation of shortages, so companies ramped up production. But as the summer bowed to heavy rains, violent winds and relative coolness, big stockpiles of these appliances are on now sale at supermarkets.
Last summer's heat wave had been held largely responsible for losses suffered by the government's supporters in the spring regional and European elections -- a double setback so heavy that a lot of people thought Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin would retire. But President Jacques Chirac quickly made clear that he was determined to keep him on for the time being.