Portmore native in Paris weighs Jamaica return as France heatwave turns deadly

Rodane Henry has lived in Europe for close to a decade, yet the Portmore-born technology worker says this summer's heat in Paris, France, has him weighing a move he never saw coming—a short return to Jamaica for cooler air.

Henry, 29, first crossed the Atlantic to complete his bachelor's degree in England before settling in Paris, where he now works in the tech sector. He said he is accustomed to cold winters and warm summers on the continent, but the latest heatwave has felt unlike anything before.

"At this point, I am seriously thinking about going back to Jamaica for a little bit," Henry said. "Imagine leaving Jamaica and France is the place making you run from heat. But that is how bad it feels. It feels like I am living in hell. It's almost metal tournament."

Henry said the heat has cut into his rest, upset his work routine, and left him feeling less secure day to day.

"In Jamaica, you can usually find breeze somewhere. You can go by the sea, sit outside, drink something cold. Here, the heat feels trapped. The building holds it, the room holds it and even when night come, it doesn't ease up. It's literally hell."

France has been fighting a severe summer heatwave, with meteorological officials warning that dangerous temperatures are gripping wide sections of the country. Health authorities have also recorded a sharp rise in excess deaths linked to the heat, topping 2,000 during the period.

For Henry, the human toll has brought the crisis home.

"When I go to work and see a co-worker in agony, he went home and saw his dad laying lifeless, it stop being funny," he said. "At first you are complaining because you uncomfortable, because you can't sleep, because you sweating in your house. Then you realise people are actually dying."

Henry said the situation has left him more on edge, arguing that France is built to handle cold much as Jamaica is built to handle heat.

"Countries prepare for what they are used to. So no there's no exaggeration when I say this feels like exactly what the Bible described," he said.

His apartment has no built-in air conditioning, and he said securing proper cooling equipment has grown difficult as demand surged.

"Everything seems sold out and people are desperate," Henry said.