Mayotte is preparing before the arrival of the cyclone. The island will be placed on red alert at 4 pm (2 pm in Paris), Sunday, December 8, to face the passage of hurricane Belna waited three hours later, announced the prefecture of the French island of the Indian Ocean .

"The passage of Cyclone Belna closer to the Mahoran sides, is expected between 19:00 and 20:00 local time about 80 km east of Petite-Terre, with a margin of error of 20 km", specify the State services, which call on the inhabitants to take shelter and "never go out".

The island is exposed "with very serious consequences", had indicated previously on the chain Mayotte the 1st the prefect Jean-François Colombet, which consequently, "decided to shelter all the populations which are exposed" .

Evacuation of the inhabitants

Police and municipal services began Sunday morning to contact residents to convince them to evacuate the most endangered areas, he said. The prefecture has also decided to close the airport, while the barges that connect the sea and the Grande Terre have ceased to circulate.

Belna was in the middle of the day 160 km north-east of the archipelago and was traveling at a speed of 11 km / h towards the South and South-East. Residents have been invited to make water supplies, whose distribution will be cut at the time of the red alert "to preserve our distribution network for the days to come," said the prefecture in a statement.

All traffic will be "formally prohibited for any reason from 4 pm". The prefecture multiplies the recommendations, the first of which is to "immediately return to his home or a safe shelter".

An "exceptional" phenomenon

Some 256,000 people live in Mayotte, an archipelago of 374 km2 became the 101st French department in 2011. Many Mahorais keep the memory of Kamissi, the last cyclone in Mayotte, April 1984. At the time, the habitat was mostly built in vegetable matter. There had been a death and extensive material damage.

The phenomenon Belna is "exceptional for Mayotte", according to the prefect: "For 50 years, it will be the 3rd time that Mayotte will pass as close to the effects of a cyclone," he said.

With AFP