France, Sept. 19 -- The turning point, Decq says, came in late May, when the first heatwave kicked in - weeks before most people expected any extreme heat. By the end of the month, temperatures in the capital had hit a record 34C.

She picked up her four-year-old son from school, and immediately knew something was wrong.

"He wasn't well, I could see it right away," she recalls. Then that night he began vomiting severely.

"I was sure it was because he was suffering from heat stroke. And he's not the only kid in our school who suffered - the school wasn't prepared at all for the heatwave. They didn't even have fans in classes. It made me very angry."

Decq is still angry. We're sitting in the flat just south of Paris where she spent much ...