MAMOUDZOU, Dec 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Officials on the small Indian Ocean
island of Mayotte said Sunday they had lifted the red alert in place for
Cyclone Belna, after it brushed past the French territory.
Officials had told islanders to keep off the roads and stay indoors earlier
as they declared a red alert in the expectation that the cyclone would hit
the island.
Island officials have not yet said how much damage the storm caused on
Mayotte, which is home to a quarter of a million people.
While early forecasts had suggested the cyclone would hit the island full-
on, the latest prediction from France-Meteo — that it would veer further
south and miss the island — proved more accurate, Mayotte’s governor Jean-
Francois Colombet said.
The cyclone is now 100 kilometres (60 miles) away from the island, but
officials still advised islanders to be careful.
Many schools were to be closed Monday because some were being used as
emergency shelters for between 10,000 and 15,000 of the islanders most
vulnerable to possible damage caused by Belna.
But island officials said that barges linking the different islands would
resume Monday.
In the run-up to the arrival of the cyclone, most people had heeded the
official advice to stay indoors and off the streets, Colombet told a local
newspaper.
The island’s 256,000 inhabitants had also been advised to stock up on
drinking water.
After Mayotte, the cyclone was forecast on Monday to hit the neighbouring
Comoros archipelago then the island of Madagascar. They issued orange and
yellow alerts respectively.
Mayotte’s airport has been closed, and the island’s roads declared off-
limits from Sunday afternoon.
This will be the third cyclone to hit the island in 50 years, Colombet
said.
The Comoros government announced an orange alert for the island of Anjouan,
while the archipelago’s other two islands were placed on a lesser yellow
alert.
The authorities called on the population to take the usual precautions:
shutter windows and doors, stock up on provisions and prepare to take refuge
in mosques, schools or others homes if necessary.
The archipelago was struck by Cyclone Kenneth in April, killing at least
three people before it continued on to Mozambique, where it caused widespread
damage.
Cyclone Belna is expected to land on Madagascar’s northwest coastal region
of Boeny on Monday afternoon.
Madagascar’s northern tourism island of Nosy Be was also expected to be
affected.
The country’s transport ministry called on fishermen not to take to the sea
because of fierce winds.