The Mayotte archipelago will be placed on red cyclone alert this Friday at 10 p.m. (8 p.m. in Paris) due to the passage of Cyclone Chido, announced the prefect of this French department in the Indian Ocean. “This is an unprecedented event, extremely violent, the winds could exceed 180 km/h,” explained François-Xavier Bieuville during a press conference.
The prefect called on people housed in precarious housing, very numerous in the poorest department in France, to confine themselves to one of the 71 accommodation centers opened by the authorities. These centers, located in schools and gymnasiums, “will be open to all,” he assured.
Gusts, intense rain and submersive waves
Cyclone Chido, which is currently located about 500 km northeast of Mayotte, is an “intense tropical cyclone” explains Météo-France, which forecasts “violent gusts of wind, intense rain, submersive waves coupled with a elevation of the sea. These severely degraded weather conditions lead to “a risk of runoff and flooding, and sea swells which can have significant effects on the coastline” added François-Xavier Bieuville, who urged boats to “must reach dry land” .
Airport and schools closed
All traffic on public roads will be prohibited from 10 p.m. and Dzaoudzi airport will be closed from 8 p.m. (6 p.m. Paris time), said the prefect. The last barge, which connects Dzaoudzi to Mamoudzou, will leave at 5:30 p.m. The Ministry of the Interior announced Thursday the sending to Mayotte of 110 civil security professionals from the island of Reunion. All schools in the archipelago are closed Friday and Saturday.
The Mayotte archipelago, relatively untouched by cyclones, had already been affected by cyclone Belna in 2019, which however did not cause major damage.
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