Cyclone Belal hits Reunion Island: "We've hit the hard spot", the authorities announce
On the morning of Monday 15 January, the eye of cyclone Belal arrived on the French island of Reunion, now on red alert, causing a first death, a homeless person who had not taken shelter. The population must always remain confined, insists the prefecture.
People filming the crashing waves on January 14. A strict lockdown is now in force in Reunion Island. © AFP / RICHARD BOUHET
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Shortly after 9 a.m. local time, the wind was significantly stronger in the north and west of the island, which were hit by violent gusts and heavy rain, said an AFP journalist on the scene. "We've really gotten into the rough stuff since this morning. The eye of the storm has arrived on Reunion Island, the wall has hit the north of the island," said prefect Jérôme Filippini on BFMTV. While the arrival of the eye may give a false impression of calm, he called on the population to remain confined, assuring that the cyclone would "create serious risks" throughout the day, with winds of up to 200 km/h.
A death
While the damage is still being measured, "the death of a homeless person who had not taken shelter is to be deplored in Saint-Gilles" (west), the prefecture said in a statement. The prefecture added that 57,000 customers, or 13% of households, are currently without electricity, and almost 35,000 people are without water. "No critical infrastructure is impacted," she stressed.
Reunion Island went back from the purple alert, the highest level, to the red alert at 13 p.m. local time (10 a.m. in Paris) on Monday to allow rescue teams to intervene and assess the damage caused by the cyclone. During a videoconference, Jérôme Filippini explained that there are "interventions pending", but warned that this changeover "does not change anything for the population", which must still remain confined.
The tropical cyclone intensified overnight from Sunday to Monday, and conditions on the island deteriorated, with heavy and sustained rains already flooding some roads and a swell that deepened. Winds of up to 250 km/h on the heights of this mountainous island are feared. As a source of relative relief, "Belal is not expected to reach the stage of an intense tropical cyclone," according to the meteorological service, which compares its impact to that of Cyclone Firinga in 1989.
Need for "reinforcements"
»Reunion Island has not been hit by an intense cyclone for ten years and the passage of Bejisa in the first days of 2014. However, the authorities are also "concerned about all rivers", for which a flood peak is expected at the end of Monday morning, according to the prefect. The shelters set up have not yet been in high demand: some 600 people have been admitted, particularly among the most precarious or vulnerable population in the event of flooding.
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We're probably going to need reinforcements "said Jérôme Filippini on France Inter, specifying that resources of the Civil Security in particular should arrive "on the island in the coming days, as soon as it will be possible to land a plane safely on the airport". Roland-Garros International Airport, in the northern town of Sainte-Marie, closed on Sunday at 16 p.m. (local time) and all public transport networks stopped at 18 p.m. (local time).
(With AFP)
Read alsoReunion Island faces devastating cyclone Belal
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