Marseille (AFP) - A German tourist was swept to her death as she walked along a beach in southern Corsica on Sunday as high waves battered the French Mediterranean island, officials said.
The woman, who was in her sixties, "was swept away by the waves as she was walking along the beach at Porto," the emergency services said.
The incident occurred as southeastern France was battered by unseasonably high winds of up to 138 kilometres per hour (85 miles per hour), the Meteo France weather service said.
In the southeastern Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, high winds left nearly 2,000 homes without power with forecasters saying the strong wind would continue throughout the day.
