Tunisia is enduring a severe heatwave, with temperatures reaching 49.8°C in the central city of Kairouan on August 27 — among the highest recorded anywhere in the world that day and close to the country's all-time national record. The surge in electricity demand, driven largely by air-conditioning use, has prompted state utility STEG to impose rotating power cuts across multiple regions, which in turn has disrupted water distribution in areas reliant on electrically powered pumping stations. Hospitals are also under acute strain, with a doctors' organisation reporting an "unprecedented" rise in heatstroke-related deaths and admissions, while President Kais Saied has controversially attributed some disruptions to deliberate sabotage rather than technical failures — a claim that has added a political dimension to the crisis.