Cyclone causes less damage than expected on the French island of Reunion, but remains on red alert

First modification: 01/16/2024 – 02:35

3 min

The eye of Cyclone Belal reached La Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, on Monday morning, January 15, but did not penetrate the interior of the island, preventing significant damage. However, “the death of a homeless person who had not taken refuge in Saint-Gilles must be regretted,” declared the prefecture.

Although the winds continue to blow, the island went from purple alert, the highest level, to red alert, with the obligation for residents to remain confined. The red alert should be lifted on Tuesday if the roads are safe, local authorities explained in a statement.

“The prefect of Réunion maintains the red alert and therefore the confinement of the population, to allow the clearing of road axes, a condition for the resumption of traffic. “The lifting of the red alert and the move to the safeguarding phase, that is, the resumption of normal life subject to conditions, will be announced once the roads are safe,” the statement said.

According to authorities, electricity had been cut off to 100,000 customers on the island, representing 23% of homes, and some 37,000 people were without water. Many uprooted trees and roads under water were also reported, but the interurban network remained relatively intact.

On Tuesday, La Réunion airport is expected to reopen, allowing the arrival of more rescue personnel, and particularly agents of the public electricity distribution network.

“At the request of Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal, reinforcements will be sent to La Réunion in the next few hours. About 150 civil security personnel, gendarmes and Enedis agents will arrive at the scene as soon as the airport reopens. Our compatriots in La Réunion can count on the State, which is fully mobilized at their side,” the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, published in X this Monday.

For his part, President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his support for the inhabitants of La Réunion.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the forces deployed in La Réunion to help our compatriots affected by the catastrophe. I want to assure all residents and elected representatives that we are fully mobilized. Our Mauritian friends have also been affected by the cyclone. I would like to express our solidarity,” he published in X.

Population relief

The cyclone was characterized by heavy rain and strong gusts of wind since Sunday night.

“When the sun went down, the sky had completely changed (…) “there were whirlwinds everywhere among the clouds,” Yuna Puech, 28, who lives in Saint-Leu, in the west, told AFP. Yuna trusts that now she feels relieved: “It wasn't as violent as anticipated.”

A resident of Saint-André, in the north, told AFP that he had been very scared on Monday morning “when there were big gusts of wind.”

He explained that a large tree branch fell on the hood of his car, which was parked in front of his house. But “fortunately, there was not too much damage and it was only material,” she said.

Marie-Jo, a resident of the village of Saint-Joseph, in the southeast, also expressed her relief to AFP, as she only suffered water leaks through the seals of her windows.

“The night and all morning were relatively calm, it started moving in the early afternoon and now it's starting to blow a lot (…) But frankly, I expected something much worse, given what we had been told.”

Cyclone Belal is now heading towards Mauritius where the meteorological services issued a level 3 alert (out of 4) due to the “direct threat” posed by the cyclone, which is “dangerously approaching”.

The director of the Meteorological Services of Mauritius Ram Dhurmea resigned on Monday, as announced by the Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, who accused him of not having foreseen the force of the bad weather that caused one death on the island.

With AFP and local media