Before the sweltering heat descended, Amelie Kenney, a 23-year-old recent graduate, could boast of an almost perfect Parisian life. Her tiny, affordable top-floor apartment offered an enviable view from its minuscule balcony, encompassing the French capital's iconic grey roofs and, with a lean, even the Sacré-Cœur basilica atop Montmartre. However, with a historic heatwave now making such attic dwellings potentially hazardous to health, her initial good fortune has quickly evaporated.
“It’s been the worst week that we’ve had in this apartment,” she said this week as the capital and other parts of Europe roasted. “It’s just baking in the whole afternoon and it’s impossible to just get a respite.”
