The red alert is lifted in Guadeloupe. Sunday, May 1 in the morning, the alert level “Rain and thunderstorms” went back to green, announced Météo France, after a major stormy episode the day before. Several roads were cut off by these torrential rains, which also caused power cuts. The human toll from these bad weather so far stands at two dead and one person missing. Franceinfo takes stock of the situation in the archipelago.
Two motorists found dead
The prefecture of Guadeloupe confirmed on Saturday the accidental death of two motorists, probably surprised by the waters in their car. As Guadeloupe La 1ère reported, a 50-year-old man was found dead in his vehicle on Saturday morning in Le Gosier, not far from Pointe-à-Pitre. A few hours later, a sixty-something was found unconscious in his car immersed in a canal in the town of Abymes, still on the island of Grande-Terre. Despite their best efforts, firefighters were unable to resuscitate him.
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The island’s emergency services are still looking for a 30-year-old man who has been missing since Saturday morning. According to witnesses interviewed by La 1ère, he fell into the water while he was not far from a canal in the Bas-du-Fort sector, in Gosier.
Heavy rains for 24 hours
In the center of the archipelago, more than 30 centimeters of precipitation were recorded in the space of 24 hours. That is more than 300 liters per square meter, specifies Météo France on its site, which describes an episode “intense and exceptional”. In places, the accumulations greatly exceeded those recorded during the passage of Hurricane Lenny, in November 1999, underlines the organization.
The #Guadeloupe was affected by torrential rains. In 24 hours, @MeteoFrance_AG reports 312.4mm at Raizet (Pointe-à-Pitre Airport) which exceeds the totals of May 7, 2012 (237.9 mm). Including 300 mm in 12 hours! Currently the calm is emerging and the rains are shifting to the east pic.twitter.com/XsmZ2G0eMM
— VigiMeteoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) April 30, 2022
Several roads were submerged by the waves. On social networks, residents of the most affected areas shared their amazement at the scale of the floods. As on avenue Patrick Saint-Eloi, which notably serves the Resource center for expertise and sports performance (Creps) Antilles-Guyana.
Oh yeah anyway…#Guadeloupe #VigilanceRed pic.twitter.com/WmBjRLpvZQ
— BRUNO BALMOKOUN (@BrunoBalmokoun) April 30, 2022
It’s horrible pic.twitter.com/Sl7E8DUrKz
— ♀️❤️ (@PetiteMacrelle) April 30, 2022
In total, “80 firefighters were engaged during the afternoon” Saturday, according to the prefecture, “in order to provide assistance to the victims and carry out reconnaissance”. The authorities have also announced that the Pointe-à-Pitre area was the hardest hit by the bad weather.
Sectors still affected
In its latest update, published Saturday at 6 p.m. (local time, midnight Paris time), the prefecture of Guadeloupe announced that technicians were still on foot fromwork to restore power supply. From “significant difficulties” were also reported on two major roads on the island, as the water level finished decreasing on Sunday morning. The authorities also alerted the population to the risk of landslides, increased by heavy rains.
Following #floods at the request of President LOSBAR, first aid is organized with the help of the Food Bank of #Guadeloupe and SDIS Guadeloupe #Solidarity #CD971 #ActGuadeloupe #ThinkingGuadeloupe pic.twitter.com/oyJBULP6b0
— Department_971 (@Department_971) April 30, 2022
In parallel with the relief operations, food and medical aid has been organized since Saturday noon. Food and basic necessities have been distributed to the households most affected by these bad weather. Highly exposed to tropical storms, Guadeloupe experiences a hurricane season every year, which generally runs from June to November. Sunday morning, theThe thundery showers evacuated as expected towards the northern West Indies.