The state of natural disaster has been recognized for several municipalities in Guadeloupe affected by the floods which hit the center of the island at the end of April, killing one person, the Minister for Overseas Territories said on Wednesday.
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In a tweet, the Minister of Overseas Sébastien Lecornu indicates that he "
informed the president of the Department of Guadeloupe, Guy Losbar, (...) that following the floods which affected Guadeloupe on April 30, the state of natural disaster had been recognized for Les Abymes, Pointe-à-Pitre, Le Gosier and Morne-à-l'eau
".
In addition, the state of natural disaster was also activated by the Ministry of the Interior for the municipality of Salazie in Reunion, following rainstorms that affected this island in the Indian Ocean between the 2nd and the April 4, 2022, according to a ministry statement.
On the night of Friday April 29 to Saturday April 30, record rainfall, sometimes exceeding that recorded during cyclonic episodes, had affected the island, especially the central area where the rising waters had trapped many motorists.
The bad weather caused at least one death.
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The PS parliamentarians of Guadeloupe wrote in early May to the Prime Minister asking him to recognize the state of natural disaster after the floods, but also to strengthen cooperation with communities to increase investment against the artificialization of soils.
Guadeloupe is very concerned by the risk of flooding due to climate change.
If so far the Regional Energy and Climate Observatory predicted that 42 currently urbanized hectares of Point-à-pitre will be flooded by 2050, the latest scenario increases to 48 ha.
A phenomenon also highlighted in the passage of the 6th IPCC report devoted to small islands, which details increased "
risks of submersion-flooding
".