“We still have extremely strong winds and rains which are just as strong”, affirmed the prefect on the Mayotte-La 1ère channel, fearing “significant floods”, especially since a second episode of bad weather will bring lots of rain to the archipelago on Monday.
The prefect of Mayotte François-Xavier Bieuville declared on Sunday that he had decided to “maintain the red alert until tomorrow evening” in this French overseas territory brushed by tropical storm Dikeledi which caused heavy rain and flooding. “We still have extremely strong winds and rains which are just as strong”, affirmed the prefect on the Mayotte-La 1ère channel, fearing “significant floods”, especially since a second episode of bad weather will bring lots of rain to the archipelago on Monday.
“At present, Dikeledi is still a threat to our territory,” said Floriane Ben Hassen, the director of Météo France in Mayotte, also at the microphone of Mayotte-La 1ère. The weather forecast institute expects Dikeledi rains and winds to ease overnight from Sunday to Monday, but the downpours are expected to resume Monday morning with a “Kashkasi”, a usual monsoon phenomenon in this season in Mayotte.
No casualties at this stage
For François-Xavier Bieuville, the “territory is very fragile” after the ravages of Cyclone Chido, which devastated Mayotte less than a month ago, uprooting vegetation, damaging infrastructure, taking away roofs of buildings and destroying habitats precarious. “It is for these reasons that I decided to maintain the red alert until tomorrow evening and we will provide an update with Météo-France” at the end, continued the prefect.
He also indicated that he did not report any casualties at this stage. There were “many actions taken by the police, with firefighters and military rescuers”, including “a person rescued who was caught in the floods in his car”, according to Mr. Bieuville.
France
