Day 3418 (Sunday) 16th October 2026.

This is Villefranche and Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat

and this is the monastery Ile Saint Honorat, an island off Cannes.

Huw found this horrible story the other day - I hadn't realised we had tsunamis in France

The Nice Tsunami, 1979

Actually a rather nasty incident; when a landfill being used to build the Nice Airport collapsed, it triggered two large waves which delivered death and destruction to the French Riviera.

The area around Nice in the South of France is the Mediterranean playground of celebrities, billionaires and European royalty, boasting miles of white-sand beaches, sparkling ocean and 300 days of sunshine a year. Yet, on October 16th, 1979 disaster struck this beautiful coastline.

Six kilometres from the city centre, the international Nice Côte d’Azur Airport was being expanded into a two-runway, three-terminal airport that would cover 3.70 km2 (1.43 sq mi) using mostly reclaimed land. Plus, a new municipal port was being added. At 2pm the reclaimed land for the harbour gave way, triggering a submarine landslide and tsunami. Seven workers were the initial fatalities in this ripple of disaster.

The coastline around the French Riviera is actually quite prone to natural landslides due to the numbers of canyons off the continental shelf. The Riviera town of Menton was hit by a tsunami during the 1887 Liguria Earthquake, for example. The collapse of so much of the harbour landfill triggered a much bigger landslide in one of the canyons below the airport. 10 million cubic metres in total shifted, launching a 2nd wall of water.

In Nice’s old port, the water level dropped by two metres as the two tsunamis emanated out from the airport to rampage along a 96 km (60 mile) stretch of coastline from nearby Antibes to the Italian border. Antibes’ neighbourhoods of La Salis and La Garoupe took the brunt of the tsunamis where they peaked at 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) high and crashed as far as 150 metres inland.

Between 8 – 23 people were swept away that day. Considerable economic damage was suffered as well. What’s more, the landslide travelled so far, two sea cables 80 and 110 km (50 and 68 miles) out to sea were snapped several hours later from the moving mass of mud, clay and rock.

As the underlying sediments below the harbour were obviously not stable, its construction was abandoned, although the airport expansion was completed. This unusual disaster seems little remembered otherwise.

What’s happening in France this week

American football comes to Stade de France for the first time. (Photo by Justin K. Aller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

The President heads off on a three-day visit of Gulf states, an important taxe foncière deadline arrives, MPs discuss the social security budget, and there’s a first at Stade de France

Monday

Court – La France Insoumise MEP Rima Hassan will appear in court on accusations of ‘justifying terrorism’.

Visit – France’s President Emmanuel Macron starts a three-day tour of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar, with the situation in the Strait of Hormuz top of the agenda.

Tuesday

Property tax – Taxe foncière payments are due for anyone who settles their bill online.

Social Security – The social security budget debate is due to begin in the National Assembly. A vote may take place on the first half of the budget, the revenue spending - this will give an important indication on whether the parties are in a mood for compromise or whether the budget is likely to bring down yet another French government.

Security – France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez will meet his counterparts from Germany and Italy at Elmau Castle in Germany

Protest – A rally against the use of pesticides is set to take place in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Football – Champions Cup holders Paris Saint-Germain host Barcelona at Parc des Princes in the third match of the pool phase. The match kicks off at 9pm and will be broadcast by Canal+Foot.

Wednesday

Football – Lille host Galatasaray at Stade Pierre Mauroy in the third match of the pool phase. The match kicks off at 6.40pm and will be broadcast by Canal+Foot.

Skywatch – The Orionid meteor shower – as Earth passes through the dust cloud caused by Halley’s Comet – is approaching its peak, expected the night of Wednesday into Thursday. 

Thursday

Auction – Impressionist paintings by Monet, Renoir, and Sisley will be sold at auction in Paris. 

Cycling – The route of the 2027 Tour de France – which will start in Edinburgh on July 2nd before travelling through England and Wales over three Britain-based stages – will be revealed at an official presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris

Friday

Music – The 2027 NRJ Music Awards take place in Cannes.

Sunday

Fall back – after last month’s false alarm, the clocks actually do officially go back in the early hours of Sunday, October 25th.