Tropical Storm Fiona hit Guadeloupe hard. This cyclonic phenomenon, the sixth of a 2022 season so far not very active, reached the department on the evening of Friday September 16. After skimming La Désirade, the easternmost of the six inhabited islands that make up the Guadeloupe archipelago, the center of the cyclone crossed Grande-Terre overnight from Friday to Saturday.
But it was Basse-Terre that suffered most of the damage caused by the passage of the storm: torrential rains fell on the mountainous south of this volcanic island, generating spectacular floods that swept away everything in their path. and killed a 54-year-old man, whose house was engulfed by the waves in the town of Basse-Terre, capital of the department.
The winds caused by storm Fiona were accompanied by gusts that reached up to 120 km / h in Guadeloupe, a value that is not exceptional for a cyclonic phenomenon in the Antilles. But it was above all the rainfall that was of unprecedented intensity, causing considerable damage. In the space of six hours, in the night from Friday to Saturday, more than 300 mm fell in places, mainly in the capital and in several neighboring municipalities. That is the equivalent of a month and a half of rain. Precipitation continued during the day on Saturday, then in the evening, producing unprecedented accumulations exceeding 500 mm in Saint-Claude or Capesterre-Belle-Eau and approaching this threshold in other localities.
The executive has already pledged to support this bruised department. “After storm Fiona, my thoughts go to Guadeloupe, to our swept away compatriot and all the inhabitants affected”wrote Emmanuel Macron on Twitter, Sunday afternoon. “The state of natural disaster will be recognized and the overseas relief fund mobilized. I asked the Minister Delegate to go there”, added the Head of State, confirming an announcement made a few hours earlier by Gérald Darmanin. The Minister of the Interior specified that the procedure for recognizing the state of natural disaster would be signed “from next weekend”.
After a nightmarish night, the inhabitants of Basse-Terre discovered, on Saturday morning, a spectacle of desolation. “It’s a real disaster. What we have there will amount to hundreds of thousands of euros in damage.notes Ferdy Louisy, the mayor (PS) of Goyave, a town of 7,500 inhabitants devastated by the flood of the Petite Rivière.
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