The weather situation is less critical in Guadeloupe. The archipelago was confined on Saturday for several hours after the maximum cyclone alert was triggered due to the passage of Hurricane Tammy.
After decreeing “purple” vigilance and confinement at 9:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. in Paris), regional prefect Xavier Lefort lowered the alert level to “gray”, shortly before 3 p.m. “This phase puts an end to confinement and allows a resumption of traffic as well as economic activities,” indicates a press release from the prefecture. “Nevertheless, the conditions for returning to normal life must be done gradually.”
Rain, storms, wind and dangerous waves
“If the danger is reduced, the phenomenon is not completely over,” state services still believe. The prefect therefore decided to place the Caribbean archipelago on orange alert for heavy rains and storms as well as for waves-submersion, and on yellow for violent winds.
The center of Tammy, a category 1 hurricane, passed over the east of the archipelago, “particularly on the island of Désirade”, Xavier Lefort said on BFMTV. “Fortunately, there are no casualties to report.” The small island of 1,400 inhabitants suffered “mainly material damage”, he continued, listing: “electric wires” and “trees fell on the road”, “roofs of houses which flew away”…
An operation “by sea and by air” is being prepared to “help put things back to normal” at La Désirade, “very early” this Sunday, added the prefect. According to its mayor Loïc Tonton, the island commune was without electricity “on 80%” of its territory at midday.
In a forecast bulletin issued at 2:45 p.m., Météo-France indicates that showers “can” still “be strong and lasting and are accompanied by thunderstorms” in the archipelago. Above all, Tammy did not say her last word: around 3:30 p.m., the phenomenon was located in the north-east of Guadeloupe and was heading towards the east of the “Northern Islands”, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, placed in red cyclone alert at noon. The meteorological services are expecting “a peak of rainy activity”, winds gusting to 120 km/h and rough seas.
Martinique also concerned
For nearly five and a half hours on Saturday, economic activity in Guadeloupe, which has around 380,000 inhabitants, was completely stopped, and travel was prohibited there, after schools closed on Friday. The population was asked to stay sheltered, to take refuge in the safest room in each home and to only use the telephone if absolutely necessary. The State has mobilized 600 gendarmes, 200 firefighters and around a hundred police officers in the archipelago.
To a lesser extent, the meteorological phenomenon also affected Martinique, located further south. Vigilance for wave-submersion was lowered to the yellow level on Saturday afternoon.