The Rhone River is too high to allow safe swimming. The city has therefore announced that it is cancelling swimming activities planned for Sunday, June 30.
There will ultimately be no swimming in the Rhône this Sunday. The city of Lyon announced the cancellation of the experiment which was to take place from 11 a.m. this Sunday, June 30, due to the storms which have affected the department in recent hours.
“The current flow of the river no longer allows this first swimming experiment to be maintained in perfect safety conditions. This activity, initially planned for this Sunday, June 30 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Parc des Berges, is therefore canceled,” the city announced in a statement.
The city had proposed swimming as part of the 3rd edition of the Entre Rhône et Saône festival, and more broadly as an experiment to make swimming in the Rhône a possibility to combat periods of extreme heat.
The city has not specified whether this experiment will be repeated at a later date. But the water quality tests carried out a few days before the storms hit were conclusive.
Jordan Muzyczka and Laurène Rocheteau
