Since Monday evening, Guadeloupe has been hit by tropical storm Philippe, which, according to the forecaster Météo-France, is bringing torrential rain on this French archipelago in the Antilles and has triggered the maximum weather alert.
The prefecture of Guadeloupe, which has set up a crisis team, announced that schools will remain closed on Tuesday. Météo-France has triggered the highest alert level “Red Vigilance”.
The storm, which is expected to pass as close to the coast as possible overnight and Tuesday morning, is causing very heavy rain and currently localized flooding across the archipelago, bringing certain roads to a standstill since 7pm (11pm GMT).
“Heavy rains are currently occurring across the archipelago,” with a total rainfall of around 200 to 300 mm over 24 hours, writes Météo-France in its latest bulletin. These rains are accompanied by wind speeds of between 40 and 50 km/h, with gusts of up to 70 km/h.
Accompanied by lightning and thunder, the rain has already caused landslides and falling trees and led to the closure of several roads, according to the organization that manages the road network in the archipelago.
Numerous videos are circulating on social networks showing various places in Guadeloupe completely flooded and reminiscent of Hurricane Fiona, which killed one person in Guadeloupe before hitting Puerto Rico and eastern Canada in September 2022.