Tropical Cyclone Bilal is expected to hit the French island of Reunion today, Monday, which is on high alert, while its residents remain in their homes, with the authorities expecting wind speeds to reach 250 kilometers per hour.
At approximately six in the morning local time (2:00 GMT), the governor of this region located in the Indian Ocean, which includes about 870,000 people, issued a hurricane warning, which is the highest level of warning and indicates that there is “imminent danger.”
The island ordered residents to stay at home, and even relief and security services adhered to the decision.
The governor said, in a video press conference around six in the morning local time (2:00 GMT), “We will enter the difficult stage, a stage in which the hurricane is at the peak of its activity and which is characterized by the greatest danger.”
The tropical cyclone intensified on Sunday night, and conditions on the island deteriorated with heavy rains that flooded some roads.
“We expect a sudden intensification” of the winds “in the coming hours,” said Céline Joffre, an official at the French Meteorological Service Meteo France for the Indian Ocean.
However, Cyclone Bilal “is not expected to reach the stage of a severe tropical cyclone,” according to the Meteorological Service, which compared its impact to Cyclone Viringa in 1989.
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