Europe 1 with AFP 10:12 a.m., January 23, 2024, modified at 10:13 a.m., January 23, 2024
The government recognized on Tuesday the state of natural disaster in 24 municipalities of Reunion, hard hit by cyclone Belal which caused the death of four people, according to a decree published Tuesday in the Official Journal.
The government recognized on Tuesday the state of natural disaster in several municipalities of Reunion, hard hit by cyclone Belal which caused the death of four people, according to a decree published Tuesday in the Official Journal.
This decision, which concerns 24 municipalities on the French island in the Indian Ocean, opens the way to compensation for damage caused by the passage of the cyclone.
Agriculture particularly affected
Last Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin, visiting a farm in the south of the overseas territory, announced on X to trigger an accelerated and "very simplified" procedure to recognize the state of disaster natural in Reunion.
The damage caused on the French island particularly affected agriculture.
The president of the local Chamber of Agriculture, Frédéric Vienne, estimated that the sector's losses would be "higher than those of Bejisa", the cyclone which hit Reunion in early January 2014, without giving a precise figure.
Belal hit the island of Reunion last Monday morning, swept by torrential rains and winds of up to 200 km/h.
It then continued its route towards Mauritius, approximately 200 km to the northeast, where it also caused very significant damage and one death.