The cyclone Belal moved away Monday evening from the French island of Reunion, where the destruction is being estimated, but rushed towards Mauritius, where torrential rains took the inhabitants by surprise and where the first damage was reported. listed.
In the southwest of the Indian Ocean, the Reunion population of 870,000 inhabitants will however remain confined at least until Tuesday morning, when a new assessment of the situation will be made by the authorities, so as to allow rescue teams to continue clearing the roads.
But for now, relief dominates in Reunion. The cyclone Belal “fortunately did not cause the cataclysm that we feared”, explained the prefect of the island, Jérôme Filippini, while ensuring that “its impact was impressive”.
“It will remain in the history of cyclones and its effects have not quite ended,” he explained, referring to an “evolving assessment”, because the damage in many areas has not yet been able to be resolved. evaluated. One death was recorded on Monday: that of a homeless person found dead in Saint-Gilles, in the west of the island.
“The center of the cyclone Belal is located about fifty kilometers southeast” of Reunion, which remains “under the influence of peripheral bands this evening and next night, with strong gusts of wind”, up to 100 to 120 km/h on the coast, the Reunion prefecture said in the evening.
Chaos in Mauritius
The cyclone is heading towards Mauritius, where the heavy rains which fell Monday morning took the population of this island of nearly 1.3 million inhabitants by surprise, causing chaos and damage, noted a correspondent from the AFP.
In the capital, Port Louis, cars were stuck, with water up to their hoods, and sometimes even swept away by the current, according to images broadcast by local media. Other images showed powerful waves swamping the capital’s waterfront, as well as flooded buildings with furniture floating in the water.
The alert level on the island was raised to three (out of four possible) on Monday. “Torrential rain” and wind gusts of up to 110 km/h are expected in the coming hours, the weather services said.
In Reunion, 150,000 homes were without electricity and more than 130,000 people did not have access to running water in the evening.
According to an AFP journalist, many trees are blocking the streets of towns in the west of the island and several secondary roads have been flooded. A sign of the violence of the winds, a big game fishing boat was partly submerged in the Saint-Gilles marina.
Damage in the north of Reunion
The mayor of the commune of Sainte-Marie, in the north of Reunion, requested the declaration of a natural disaster. “The passage of the cyclone Belal caused very serious damage to the commune of Sainte-Marie. No neighborhood was spared from the winds and precipitation. The central town hall has, for its part, suffered damage which makes its premises unusable until further notice,” said Richard Nirlo in a press release.
Sainte-Marie is located near Roland-Garros airport, which is scheduled to resume flights Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. in Quebec), according to the prefecture.
After hitting Reunion around 9:00 a.m. from the north and west of the island, the eye wall of the cyclone finally deviated its course towards the north without entering the interior, as initially predicted by Meteo France.
A change in trajectory “probably due to the marked relief of the island”, according to the prefecture.
Reunion had not been hit by an intense cyclone for ten years and the passage of Bejisain the first days of 2014. But the comparison that many feared was that of the cyclone Firingawith devastating impact in 1989.
A tourist island popular for its white sand beaches and crystal clear waters, Mauritius was however hit in February 2023 by heavy rains and the violent winds of the cyclone Freddywhich had ravaged southeastern Africa, notably Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.
Around ten storms or cyclones cross the southwest of the Indian Ocean each year during the cyclone season which extends from November to April.