Fortunately, “no injuries” were reported in Guadeloupe. But tropical storm Philippe caused “some damage”, according to the authorities of this department placed on red alert for a few hours for heavy rain. The Caribbean archipelago was placed on red alert on Monday evening, due to the heavy rains and storms expected. Météo-France downgraded it to yellow vigilance on Tuesday shortly before 5 p.m. local (11 p.m. in Paris).
Torrential rains fell on this department of the French Antilles during the night from Monday to Tuesday, particularly in the south of Basse-Terre. Numerous videos have circulated on social networks, showing places completely flooded and recalling storm Fiona which submerged the area on the night of September 15 to 16, 2022, causing one death.
Dangerous mudslide
At the Rivière-Sens marina, in the town of Basse-Terre, the thick and viscous mud from the swollen river once again silted up the pontoons and boats, a year after the same marina was left dry. by storm Fiona. According to Météo-France, more than 380 mm of precipitation fell in the space of 27 hours in Vieux-Fort, a town which found itself isolated.
The state of a bridge providing access is “under investigation”, indicated the prefect of Guadeloupe Xavier Lefort. Monday evening, around 7 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Wednesday in Paris), four people were swept away by a mudslide in their vehicle in Gourbeyre, a commune in the south of Basse-Terre, but they were rescued safe and sound, confirmed the prefect. Across the entire Guadeloupean territory, “there was some damage but no injuries”, underlined the State representative for whom “most of the” meteorological “phenomenon” has passed”.
Drinking water distribution
This “night without major difficulty, without risk for people, is also due to the fact that people respected the safety instructions”, welcomed Xavier Lefort. “The number of interventions by law enforcement and emergency services was limited,” the prefecture confirmed in a press release.
According to EDF, 2,500 users were, however, still without electricity at 6:30 a.m. local time (12:30 p.m. in Paris). The distribution of drinking water was interrupted in “a number of municipalities” due to the shutdown of several factories, according to the prefecture. Mayors were consulted to organize deliveries of water in pallets. As a precaution, the authorities decided on Monday to close the schools which were to remain closed all day Tuesday.
“Significant improvement” at the end of the afternoon
Apart from a few damaged middle schools, all secondary schools were due to reopen this Wednesday, the rectorate said. Tuesday at 2 p.m. local time (8 p.m. in Paris), the center of tropical storm Philippe was located approximately 190 km northwest of Saint-Martin, an island in the north of the French West Indies, and was moving “more clearly towards the north- west” bringing rain and storms in its wake, according to Météo-France.
Cut off from the world since the evening before, Vieux-Fort regained access, cleared at the beginning of Tuesday afternoon near Trois-Rivières, where numerous landslides and floods took place. If “stormy rains are still present for the next few hours and accumulations of around 50 to 80 mm in three hours, or even more locally, are still to be feared”, a “significant improvement in precipitation” was expected in late afternoon by the meteorological service.