This paper reviews more than 19 691 French historical documents from 14 French archive centres. To assess data from historical documents, a method has been applied that leads to a record of 101 extreme storms with damage, including 38 coastal floods. Thus, the results show periods of increasing and decreasing storm frequency. These periods are examined. Furthermore, coastal hazards have forced societies to adapt and develop specific skills, lifestyles and coping strategies. This paper analyses some responses of past societies to these hazards. By doing so, useful ideas may be (re)discovered by today's communities in order to enable us to adapt and develop resilience. Similarly, a thorough knowledge of past meteorological hazards may allow our societies to recreate a link with territory, particularly through the (re)construction of an effective memory of these phenomena.