2023-10-22 15:10:18
The news is, for the moment, reassuring in the French West Indies. Hurricane Tammy only caused material damage in Guadeloupe.
On Saturday, after approaching Martinique, where it mainly caused very strong waves with troughs reaching a maximum of 7.70m, rain and strong winds, it brushed the Guadeloupe archipelago on its way up towards the north of the West Indian arc. The island of Désirade, located in the southeast of Guadeloupe, was particularly affected.
“Fortunately, there are no victims to deplore,” assured the prefect to Agence France presse (AFP). The small island of 1,400 inhabitants suffered “mainly material damage”, he continued, mentioning “electric wires” and “trees fallen on the road”, “roofs of houses which flew away”… operation “by sea and by air” is being prepared to “help put things back to normal”. According to Mayor Loïc Tonton, the island commune was deprived of electricity “on 80%” of its territory at midday (Saturday evening in Paris). The facilities of some beach restaurants were damaged.
For several hours on Saturday, economic activity throughout Guadeloupe, which has around 380,000 inhabitants, was completely stopped. 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 weather alert had reached the highest alert, purple in color, which imposes confinement. It only lasted a few hours before activity gradually resumed.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, Guadeloupe returned to vigilance orange due to wind, rain and flooding. Finally, the red alert was reactivated in the morning due to the amount of precipitation. The accumulations linked to Tammy should reach up to 350 mm, according to Météo France, or 350 liters per square meter. Gusting, the wind will blow around 90 km/h. Wave troughs could still reach 4m. Once this tail of the hurricane has passed, the situation will return to much more normal. This should happen in the afternoon, or in the evening and early night in Paris.
Chain Guadeloupe 1ere specifies that air and sea services will be able to resume. The closure on Saturday having disrupted the rotations, modifications to the timetables are to be expected.
No confinement planned
Martinique also remains on orange alert, also due to precipitation. But as the island is further from Tammy than Guadeloupe, the consequences are less. Cumulative rainfall is expected to reach up to 150 mm, or 150 liters per square meter. Wave height should be limited to a maximum of 1.5 m. Some interventions are underway on the road network to clear it and restore it, according to Martinique 1st.
Red vigilance, was lifted in the morning (in the afternoon Paris time) in Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, in the northwest of Guadeloupe. The category 1 out of 5 hurricane came within about a hundred kilometers of the two islands at its closest.
This wind modeling map shows Tammy near Saint-Martin (left) and Saint-Barthélemy Windy.com
Both islands remain on orange alert due to precipitation. Cumulative rainfall is expected to reach 120 mm, or 120 liters per square meter. The wind has currently weakened, but can continue to gust at around a hundred kilometers per hour. The wave depth, which reached 4.5 m, is now only 2.5 m. The prefecture did not judge that the conditions made it necessary to impose purple level vigilance and therefore confinement. Around twenty people went to shelters made available for those with exposed or fragile housing.
#Hurricane #Tammy #Guadeloupe #returns #red #alert #threat #moves #SaintMartin #SaintBarth