| Freak
waves cause havoc in the Nice area of the South of France - Coup de mer dévastateur
sur le littoral azuréen 
Freak
waves cause havoc in the Nice area on the 4th May 2010
(Left
Nice)
Massive
waves have hit the French Riviera between Nice and Cannes causing major material
damage to the densely-populated coast on Tuesday afternoon 4th May. The freak
weather struck as the region is preparing to host the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.
Freak
waves battered the southern French coast between Menton to La Ciotat on Tuesday
afternoon, causing major damage to beach constructions only a few days before
the Cannes
Film Festival is set to begin. 
(left Cagnes sur
Mer)
There
were four to ten metre-high waves battering the coastline, leaving
one woman with a fractured leg and causing major material damage. The unusual
weather cost the life of a 20-year-old woman who was swept away near the lighthouse
on Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. (right
Nice) 
In Cannes, some 20
restaurants were damaged and several cars overturned. Giant waves crashed over
cafes and festival installations on the beachfront La Croisette, causing millions
of euros worth of damage. The
pictures below is of a restaurant - la Gougouline at Cagnes sur
Mer. The restaurant was severly damaged in the bad weather on the 1st January
this year and has suffered again on the 4th May.  xxx
In Nice (left),
not only the beaches were closed but also part of its famous Promenade des Anglais.
The timing of the natural disaster – days before the opening of the tourist season
– could spell economic disaster for the French Riviera. In Nice and Cannes, a
state of natural catastrophe has been declared to speed up compensation claims
for beach front restaurants, some of whom were forced to watch as 6-metre waves
carried their sun loungers and other equipment out to sea, just days before the
Film Festival and Grand
Prix season.
In
Cannes, an 11-year-old Australian girl was rescued from a catamaran which broke
free from its mooring. Over 1,000 cruise liner passengers had to be driven by
coach from Villefranche-sur-Mer to Toulon as the sea was too rough for them to
return to the ship by tender. 
(left Cagnes sur
Mer)
It took over 2 hours to travel by road from Nice to the outskirts of Cagnes sur
Mer on Tuesday evening. At least the road was open whereas the carriageway nearer
the sea was closed. This was for traffic heading towards Nice. Fortunately it
was closed as in January this year heavy debris from the sea was being thrown
onto the road. According
to a report on the Riviera
Radio website on the 6th May "Beach clean-up operation - Across
the Riviera, a massive clean-up operation is underway following Tuesday’s 6-metre
waves which wrecked beaches and seafront restaurants from Menton to La Ciotat.
The mayor of Nice is meeting with beach bar bosses today and has promised to speed
up the process of compensation.  (left
Cagnes sur Mer)
A
state of natural catastrophe has been declared in Nice and Cannes and restaurant
owners away from the coast are showing solidarity by lending equipment to their
devastated colleagues, such as cutlery, furniture and washing machines. The president
of the PACA region has promised a million euros in aid for affected establishments,
many of whom had recently invested thousands in new materials for the start of
the season. With the Cannes
Film Festival and the Monaco
Grand Prix both attracting hundreds of thousands of people to the
Riviera next week, the disastrous phenomenon could not have come at a worse time
for the local tourism industry." Weather
and marine experts have said that there was no record of a similar tidal wave
on the Riviera, but more likely as a result of more than a week's torrential rain
that had flooded the Var River and that the river had carried millions of tons
of sand, mud and gravel debris into Antibes bay. This then caused a massive underwater
landslide. According
to a report in The Guardian on the 5th May 2010 "Jean-Luc Passion,
who runs a beach on the Croisette at Cannes, said local businesses would need
back-up from the authorities . "[The
festival] is important for the beaches, important for the town
and important for the festival, so we will pull out all the stops to get it done.
But I think everyone is going to have to help us," he told French radio.
Calling the storms a catastrophe, he said: "We are lost for words. [The waves]
came very quickly. It was calm and then suddenly it started and we didn't have
time to prepare." Locals agreed that the waves were the biggest seen on the Côte
d'Azur for years, if not decades, and unusual at this time of year. "You have
to go back to winter 1985 for waves this size," said Christian Estrosi, the rightwing
mayor of Nice and the French industry minister. René Colomban, president of the
Promenade des Anglais beach attendants' union, said he had not seen anything like
it since 1959. In order to speed the compensation process, the mayors of both
resort towns have asked for them to be classified officially as zones of natural
catastrophe. Around
15 beachside restaurants were badly damaged. As reports of damage also came in
from Menton, near the border with Italy, and Saint-Raphaël and Cavalaire, officials
expressed relief that there had been no casualties. Only one person in the town
of Eze was known to have been hurt, while emergency services said they had had
to rescue several people from the sea, including an 11-year-old Australian girl
on her own n a boat. While May normally brings the onset of the fine summer months
in the south of France, this year it has seen winds of up to 75mph hit parts of
country near the Pyrenees and disrupt flights out of Montpellier. Yesterday, to
the amazement of the south-western town's residents, snow fell in Carcassonne".
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