Dakar residents will spend the end of the week watching the sky. Senegal’s National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology (ANACIM) has put the capital and fifteen departments in the west and center-west of the country on red alert from Wednesday, September 24, to Friday, September 26. A highly active easterly wave is moving toward Senegal. It could bring Dakar its heaviest rain in nearly two years.
Forecasters expect between 50 and 100 millimeters in the capital and its outskirts, and several areas could get even more. Fatick, Kaolack, Nioro and Guinguinéo are the most exposed, along with Casamance. Further east, Tambacounda, Kédougou, Matam and Bakel are also being watched. The worst of it should come between Thursday and Friday morning.
The sea will be dangerous too. Winds will top 40 km/h, with gusts of 60 to 65 km/h around midday, and swells along the whole coast could rise above 2.5 meters. ANACIM has banned all sea trips until Saturday. For the small-scale fishermen of Yoff, Soumbédioune or Joal, that means several days without work.
The agency is asking people in low-lying areas to raise their valuables off the ground and tie down anything left outside. It also advises staying home on Friday unless there is a real need to go out. On the roads, visibility could drop sharply during downpours. Farmers are being told to put away their sprayers, since any pesticide applied now would be washed off within the hour.
In Keur Massar, Pikine and Guédiawaye, these warnings bring back bad memories. Almost every rainy season, whole streets there turn into ponds because the neighborhoods grew faster than the drains. The government has invested heavily in drainage in recent years. This storm will show whether those works hold up when the rain really comes down.
Climate experts warned back in the spring that the season would be uneven across West Africa, with floods in some areas and too little water in others. For Senegal, the next 48 hours will tell.