“A huge crack pinned us to the ground”: exactly 25 years ago, the Palavas Ferris wheel collapsed

Des vents de plus de 110 km/h ont mis au sol la grande roue de Palavas ce 6 août 1999, heureusement sans victime. Archives Max Berullier

On August 6, 1999, a violent wind caused the Ferris wheel at the Palavas funfair to collapse. An extraordinary event that Benjamin Conte, a Montpellier resident on vacation at the resort, still remembers in minute detail.

“There is something falling.”Twenty-five years later, Benjamin Conte, a singer originally from Montpellier, still remembers this sentence uttered by his mother. On the night of August 6-7, 1999, his family had to take refuge in their caravan at the Saint-Maurice campsite, while at the same time a huge storm brought down the Ferris wheel at the amusement park, which collapsed onto the other rides.

The Ferris wheel collapsed during the night of August 6-7, 1999. Max Berullier

He was 15 years old at the time, and his family from Montpellier was spending the summer with their feet in the water as usual. “With other teenagers we were playing football. The sky was completely blue, and suddenly it turned black. A huge crack nailed us all to the ground. It was thunder, we were afraid to get up. Then we rushed to our caravans, before everyone in the campsite was taken to safety in a shed."

A disaster impossible to predict

It was around 8:30 p.m. that the Ferris wheel collapsed, unable to withstand the winds that reached up to 112 km/h. A terrifying event that fortunately caused no casualties or injuries, the site having been evacuated after the fairground workers warned. A few hours earlier, however, it had been impossible to anticipate the disaster."We had been warned of a storm, but not of this power", insists Benjamin Conte.

But this day was special. August 6, 1999 remains today the day when the most lightning strikes were recorded in France, with 60 335 lightning strikes in the region according to Météo France. Benjamin Conte remembers the strange feeling he had when he saw dozens of pigeons littering the ground, struck down in mid-flight.

A storm is like a huge lottery. Some escape unscathed, others lose everything. “We were lucky. Despite the lightning, despite the rain, all our belongings were unharmed. But some neighbors saw their camper van crushed by trees uprooted by the storm. They had nothing left, and they had to go straight home.”

The calm after the storm

One positive memory still emerges from this chaotic episode. “There was a huge wave of solidarity following the disaster. People from neighboring campsites that were less affected came with clothes and objects to help. Such a traumatic event can bring people together."

The calm that reigns is also deafening. "It really struck me, few people were talking." The Montpellier resident and his friends try to go and see the collapsed Ferris wheel. They are of course blocked by the security guards, but behind the police cordon, the debris of the immense iron structure stands out against the blue sky. "That day of August 7, the sun was radiant. Finally we went to the beach like a normal day."

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