The red alert for heavy rains and thunderstorms in Guadeloupe, which had been triggered due to the passage of storm Philippe near the archipelago, was lifted on Tuesday.
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After the passage of storm Philippe on the night of Monday October 2 to Tuesday October 3 near Guadeloupe, the mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre, Harry Durimel, guest of franceinfo, expressed his “astonishment” but is intended to be reassuring: “We wake up this morning with the satisfaction that there is no human damage.” The territory, which went into red alert on Monday evening due to heavy rain and thunderstorms, remains on alert: “The population is invited to stay at home. Municipal services are closed because under red alert, we cannot travel.”
“There is an urgent concern so that schools can reopen in the coming days”, explains the councilor who recalls that the schools are close to meadows “which, recurrently, are flooded”what “at the slightest rain” makes the children “school prisoners”. However, according to Harry Durimel, “the cleanings that we carried out of the sewers made it possible for the water to flow, so we can already see the level going down”.
“The damage is environmental for the moment”
In the rest of Guadeloupe, there were “quite spectacular rises in water” in the southern areas, in Basse-Terre and in the mountainous part: “The water flowed much more strongly and we see situations in Capesterre, Trois-Rivières, Basse-Terre and on the crossing of Mamelles that there were trees which fell, which obstructed the roadway . The damage is environmental for the moment.”
There is nevertheless a problem of access to water: “In places, catchment points have been submerged by mudslides. In several sectors, notably in Pointe-à-Pitre, there is a lack of water.” The Guadeloupe Joint Water and Sanitation Management Union (Smeag) “is preparing deliveries of drinking water so that we can distribute to areas of the city and other communities where there is no water.”