Review of the past hurricane season
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- REVIEW OF THE PAST HURRICANE SEASON SUMMARY OF THE 2007 HURRICANE SEASON IN THE FRENCH WEST INDIES
- DIRECTION INTERREGIONALE ANTILLESGUYANE
- Data recorded in Martinique: WIND
- LOOKING BACK INTO THE PAST
- LOSS and DAMAGES in MARTINIQUE
- DATA AND EFFECTS REPORTED IN GUADELOUPE
- Data recorded in Guadeloupe
- Loss and damages in Guadeloupe
- Proposal for the replacement of two French names in the 2007 list for the North Atlantic
REVIEW OF THE PAST HURRICANE SEASON SUMMARY OF THE 2007 HURRICANE SEASON IN THE FRENCH WEST INDIES (Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Barthelemy and St Martin) (Submitted by France) 
DIRECTION INTERREGIONALE ANTILLESGUYANE SUMMARY OF THE 2007 HURRICANE SEASON IN THE FRENCH WEST INDIES (Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Barthelemy and St Martin) 2007 could have been a quiet season for the FWI but a single event made it a very rough season for the land, the people and the memories in Martinique ... and also somehow in Guadeloupe. During the night between the 16th and the 17th of August, hurricane DEAN crossed the Windward Islands, in the St-Lucia channel, only a few kilometers south of the Martinique coast. 
Entering the channel as a category 2, DEAN intensified and developed its eye while passing close to Martinique and left our island as a category 3. The “double” north eye wall swept the south part of Martinique with the most severe conditions.   
Data recorded in Martinique: WIND :  
It was very clear that the north part of the hurricane presented much more wind than the south part, due do the fast motion to the west (35 to 40 km/h). We also have to take into account the topographic aspect of Martinique with lots of mountains, hills and valleys with steep slopes. So, we consider that, due to “summit effect” and “venturi effect”, lots of small areas in Martinique experienced gusts over 120-125knots (215225km/h). PRESSURE: 
The minimum MSLP of 990hpa was recorded around 10.30 UTC; at this time, the center of DEAN was at a distance of 25km from the weather station.
WAVES and SWELL: 
Maximum H1/3 (mean wave height) over 10m off the north Atlantic coast Peak waves over 13m close to the north coast of Ste-Lucia, around 9.00 UTC utc with a period between 14 and 15 seconds. 
...and even the buoys moored more than 200 kilometers far from the center recorded waves between 6 and 8 meters high.
RAINFALL The measurement of rainfall under very strong wind conditions is a difficult matter. We may consider that rainfall accumulation recorded by the AWS network (see the table below) could be multiplied by a 1.2 to 1.5 factor to obtain an estimate of the real rainfall. Note also that the measures of the radar reflectivity ( not enclosed here) was affected by very strong winds ( underestimation around 10 dbz) and were of no help for a more accurate estimate. 
Rainfall amount in mm (millimeters; 100mm = 4 inches  
And THE TIDE…. 
LOOKING BACK INTO THE PAST: Martinique had not been hit directly by a hurricane for 27 years, since DAVID 1979 and ALLEN 1980. We do not forget the Lenny cyclonic swell in 1999 that destroyed a wide part of the west coast. Up to now, most of the Martinicans kept Edith (1963) in mind as the “most severe” reference concerning hurricane impact. 
LOSS and DAMAGES in MARTINIQUE: We consider that Dean did not cause any loss of life in Martinique, even if 3 or 4 indirect death were reported (one suicide, one heart attack …). Around 1300 homes were destroyed and 7500 experienced heavy damages so that it was necessary to rehouse almost 2000 people (fortunately, 1500 found a temporary home in their own family) The vegetation and the agriculture suffered a lot and 100% of the banana plantations were destroyed and 30 to 40% of the forest were damaged, specially on the south coast. The fall of lots of trees, posts and advertising panels caused many damages on the “air” power network. EDF (the power supplier company) was forced to “charter” 12 cargo planes from France (including twice the world biggest plane (Antonov 225) with one thousand tons of hardware and more than 500 technicians. The communication network was widely affected too. France Telecom reported more than 500 kilometers of cable down and 10 thousands broken or fallen posts. The total cost of Dean has been evaluated around 400 millions Euros. Also note that many post-storm injuries (more than 200) were reported from the hospital due to chain-saw or other tools used to clear roads and garden from fallen trees.
DATA AND EFFECTS REPORTED IN GUADELOUPE: The archipelago has always been more than 200km far from the center of the storm. The heaviest consequences were du to the swell especially on the south coast of Guadeloupe, where many coastal resorts, infrastructures and boats experienced damages. Data recorded in Guadeloupe: Wind: The maximum wind was recorded, most of the time, between 12 and 20 UTC, in the south-easterly flux when the center of the storm was leaving the St-Lucia Channel. Raizet Airport: Max sustained wind = 65km/h (34kt) Max gust = 97km/h (52kt) Max low level wind from the 12UTC Radio Sounding: 112km/h (60kt) In the archipelago, the MSW reached 95km/h (50kt) with gusts up to 119km/h (Marie-Galante), 115km/h (Basse-terre), 108km/h (Désirade). The AWS on the top of the Soufrière Hill (1467m) recorded a 175km/h gust. Pressure: The minimum MSLP, 1009.5 hpa, was recorded at Raizet-Airport (TFFR) around 13 UTC. Waves and Swell: Data from the wave rider, close to the north-east coast of Grande-Terre ( not the most exposed coast ) : Rainfall:
The most important rainfall happened with the south flux when the center of Dean was in the Caribbean Sea. Some AWS reported 24h rain accumulation between 50 and 100 mm with a maximum of 130mm at Pointe-Noire (west Guadeloupe).
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