The deaths of the swimmers on Wednesday, according to French officials, also highlighted the shortcomings in communicating the risks of swimming, especially when no lifeguards are on duty.
All but one of the people who drowned were in their 60s and 70s, according to local French news reports. They died while swimming at various beaches in the regions of Aude, Bouches-du-Rhône and Hérault, which are all administrative divisions in southern France and include big cities such as Marseille and Montpellier.
A video attached to a message posted on Twitter on Wednesday by firefighters from Hérault, where five people were reported dead, showed deceptively small rollers crashing into the shoreline.
“Choppy seas are making water activities dangerous,” the message read. “Avoid swimming.”
The areas of Aude and Bouches-du-Rhône had been placed on a yellow storm alert and Hérault on orange alert on Wednesday, while the red flag was raised on several beaches, meaning that swimming was forbidden.
“I can’t understand how people could get into the water when the seas were rough,” Jordan Dartier, the mayor of Vias, a city in Hérault where one person drowned, told the French broadcaster LCI. “It’s a dramatic day for our region.”