Shortly, some say, French pals may be overwhelmed by them (8)
I believe the answer is:
tsunamis
'shortly some say french pals' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'be overwhelmed by them' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'be' could be 'am' and 'am' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'may' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tsunamis that I've seen before include "Violent sea waves" , "catastrophes" , "Large ocean waves caused by underwater earthquakes" , "Destructive sea waves" , "Huge destructive waves" .)