“In view of the trajectory of Hurricane Tammy which is leading it to move away” from the West Indian archipelago, the prefect of Guadeloupe announced on Saturday October 21 shortly before 3 p.m. (9 p.m. in Paris) the lifting of the ordered confinement a few hours before. “This phase puts an end to confinement and allows a resumption of traffic as well as economic activities,” announced a press release from the prefecture, adding that “nevertheless, the conditions for returning to normal life must be done gradually.”
“If the danger is reduced, the phenomenon is not completely over,” estimates the prefecture. The prefect has therefore decided to keep the archipelago on orange alert for heavy rain and storms as well as for waves-submersion, and on yellow for violent winds. Category 1 hurricane, Tammy passed east of the island of Désirade, itself located to the east of Grande-Terre in the Guadeloupean archipelago. Around 1 p.m. (7 p.m. in Paris), the small island commune of some 1,400 inhabitants was without electricity “over 80%” of its territory, declared its mayor, Loïc Tonton, citing “strong gusts of wind” .
The purple cyclone alert was triggered around 9:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. in Paris), when the trajectory of the hurricane was to lead it “to pass in the immediate vicinity of the island of La Désirade”. In connection with this level of vigilance, the highest on the scale, the population was called to confine itself, and the economic activity of the Caribbean archipelago was completely stopped, and all travel was prohibited since the closure of schools. from Friday. “The height of the storm will pass around 3 p.m. [11 p.m. in Paris], particularly on the island of La Désirade,” predicted on BFM-TV the Minister Delegate for Overseas Affairs, Philippe Vigier.
Winds calmed, between 30 and 50 kilometers per hour
The State mobilized 600 gendarmes, 200 firefighters and around a hundred police officers, and “we stored food, particularly water, so as to ensure that we could protect the populations”, in order “to avoid all the drama,” he added. According to a Météo-France bulletin issued around 2:51 p.m. (8:51 p.m. in Paris), sustained rains will still water the archipelago, and the seas are expected to be rough, with lows that could reach up to 6 meters. .
The wind should establish in the southwest to south sector and begin to weaken. Average winds could reach between 30 and 50 kilometers per hour, or even a little more very locally, with gusts of around 110 kilometers per hour on the terrain and under storms. Heavy rains will continue, with accumulations of 250 millimeters or more. The large volumes of expected precipitation raise fears of flooding in an area already affected by downpours during tropical storm Philippe in early October.
The “Northern Islands”, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, are not spared: they were placed on red level cyclone alert at noon (6 p.m. in Paris) by prefectural decision.
Martinique placed on orange alert
Since Friday evening, Guadeloupe has been at a standstill. All weekend events were canceled, planes were grounded and maritime connections between the islands were suspended. Human resources as well as water stocks have been prepositioned on the island of La Désirade, and also in the municipalities of eastern Grande-Terre, such as Sainte-Anne, Le Moule and Saint-François, to compensate the inevitable cuts in the event of severe bad weather.
The approach to maritime installations (ports, anchorages, etc.) must also be secure, due to the risk of submersion. Since the confirmation on Thursday of Tammy’s passage near the coast of Guadeloupe, residents of the island have rushed to supermarkets, loading their carts with water and food. Friday afternoon, some were tidying up their terraces, others were attaching plywood to the windows to prevent broken glass.
To a lesser extent, the meteorological phenomenon also concerns Martinique, another French department in the West Indies, located further south, placed on orange alert on Friday for waves-submersion.
