Strong gusts and major flooding: the effects of storm Fiona were felt on the night of Friday September 16 to Saturday September 17 in Guadeloupe, placed on red alert for heavy rains and thunderstorms shortly before 6 p.m. (Saturday at midnight, Paris time).
“Rains of exceptional intensity and duration are falling [depuis plusieurs heures] on Guadeloupe », reports Météo-France in its latest bulletinsent at 3:30 a.m. (9:30 a.m. Paris time), while two people are missing, said the departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS) of Guadeloupe at Franceinfo.
The Storm Fiona “crossed the Guadeloupe archipelago in the evening, she is now in the Caribbean Sea and is heading towards Montserrat”a British island located 50 kilometers north of Guadeloupe, said Météo-France in another bulletin sent around midnight.
But if Fiona “keep evacuating slowly” towards the west and the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, Guadeloupeans are not done with this storm, warns Météo-France, which forecasts “still many floods” : “In the next few hours, these torrential rains will persist, in particular on Basse-Terre and Les Saintes, while in Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante and La Désirade the rain will continue with a more moderate intensity. . »
Whether “a clearer improvement is expected in the afternoon”the end of the event is scheduled for Sunday at 6 a.m., ” as soon as possible “.
The equivalent of a month of rain in twenty-four hours
“All travel is to be avoided (…), you really have to stay at home”had insisted the prefect of Guadeloupe, Alexandre Rochatte, Friday evening in the local media.
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The latest report from Météo-France reported up to 181 millimeters of rain in twenty-four hours on the island of Basse-Terre, the equivalent of more than a month of rain.
On Friday evening, some roads were already waterlogged, especially in Basse-Terre, some municipalities of which have already suffered major flooding, according to images posted by residents on social networks.
In Lamentin (Basse-Terre), a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP) was able to observe torrential rains without stopping for 10 p.m., very strong thunderstorms which still persisted at 5 a.m. in a lesser intensity. In the south of Basse-Terre, flooded homes were evacuated during the night in the communes of Basse-Terre, Baillif and Vieux-Habitants, AFP learned from a prefectural source.
On the island of Grande-Terre, the Pointe-à-Pitre area is also affected by significant accumulations, with a maximum of 122 millimeters of rain measured in twenty-four hours. Several shelters have been opened all over the archipelago.
Heritage Days postponed
Storm Fiona was initially supposed to touch the Guadeloupe archipelago but “sent a little further south than expected”according to Météo-France, which has placed Martinique on orange alert for “heavy rain and thunderstorms”.
All schools in Guadeloupe closed at noon local time, and many residents tidied the terraces, busy removing potential projectiles that could create damage under the effects of the wind.
In the supermarkets of the island, the queues at the checkout had been long Friday morning. In particular, customers had stocked up on water packs, to compensate for the cuts that often occur during bad weather.
Suspended from 7 p.m. Friday evening until Saturday noon, air traffic will only resume depending on weather conditions, authorities have warned
All weekend activities, such as sports competitions or Heritage Days, were canceled due to the arrival of the storm. Heritage Days may be postponed ” at a later date “said the prefecture on Friday morning in a press release.
According to Météo-France, Fiona “formed in the mid-Atlantic on September 15” and “this is the sixth tropical system of the season over the Atlantic basin”. September 16 is also the anniversary of Cyclone Hugo, a category 5 hurricane that devastated the island in 1989.