A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster On 24 December 2013 severe rains and high winds due to a Low Level Trough System passing through the Eastern Caribbean, impacted the islands of Dominica, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Meteorological Office of Saint Lucia recorded 171.1 mm of rain fell within a 24 hour period, ending at 8:50 am on December 25th, 2013. As a result, the communities of Canaries, Anse-La Raye, Vieux Fort and Bexon/Marc in Saint Lucia were directly affected by severe flooding and landslides, which caused the failure of communication networks, inaccessibility of road networks and a general loss of water supply on the entire island. At the moment, six fatalities have been reported as result of the weather system. The main bridge between the communities, Canaries and Souferrie collapsed during the flooding, disrupting the movement between the two communities.
Currently the Ministry of Communications, Works, Transport and Public Utilities is working with community members of Canaries to install a temporary bridge to alleviate the road network problems.
Due to the floods, approximately 1,200 people were evacuated into shelters on the onset of the emergency. Although a number of them returned to their homes after the first night, on 25 December there were still 30 elderly people in a collective centre in Canaries, an additional 25 people in in Anse La Raye, and 120 people in Vieux Fort.