Mayotte placed on red alert as cyclone Dikeledi approaches

Less than a month after the devastating passage of Cyclone Chido, Mayotte, an archipelago placed on red alert since Saturday 10 p.m. local time (8 p.m. in Paris), faces tropical storm Dikeledi off the south of this island on Sunday January 12. archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

The 320,000 inhabitants of the poorest department in France were invited to take shelter “in a solid dwelling”. The prefect asked the mayors to reopen the accommodation centers which had been able to accommodate some “15,000 people” during the Chido cyclonic episode, and declared that “all mosques” of the archipelago were going to be opened to serve as reception areas. In total, 79 structures are ready to accommodate people in need of shelter. He also asked “positioning of forces, particularly firefighters” in “extremely fragile areas of shanty towns in Mamoudzou, Koungou [côte nord de Grande-Terre]on Petite-Terre in La Vigie ».

The population was encouraged by the prefecture to stock up on water and food to “hold out the weather of the cyclone”. Throughout the duration of the alert, all traffic is prohibited except for emergency services and authorized people.

After reaching the northeast coast of Madagascar on Saturday afternoon, the cyclone began to weaken, with wind gusts reaching 130 kilometers per hour (km/h) at sea, according to Météo-France. But Dikeledi should gradually regain strength when he leaves the land. At 5:56 a.m. local time (3:56 a.m. in Paris), the storm was 260 km from the southeast coast of the archipelago, moving at a speed of 22 km/h.

Risk of mudslides

“In terms of impacts, the province of Antsiranana in Madagascar has suffered the most intense conditions in recent hours”but intense winds and rain “should gradually decrease” and the conditions “improve during the morning”specifies Météo-France. After passing through the Mozambique Channel, Dikeledi is expected to pass a little more than 100 km south of Mayotte at the stage of a tropical storm on Sunday afternoon before being classified as a tropical cyclone again on Monday during the day.

“Subsequently, it will continue to intensify, possibly reaching the stage of intense tropical cyclone by making a turn towards the south then the south-east at the beginning of next week, more or less close to the African or Malagasy coasts”specifies Météo-France in its latest bulletin.

In the Comoros, heavy rains are expected during the day and in Mozambique, “even if the trend is for the system to turn a little more towards the center of the channel, it is a mature system which could approach the coasts of the province of Nampula” Monday, according to Météo-France. Heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous sea conditions with marine submersions are thus “possible”.

Waiting for, “a significant rainy and windy deterioration” East “expected in the next few hours” in the Mahorais archipelago, which can generate flash floods, floods and landslides. Gusts of up to 80 to 90 km/h are “possible”particularly on the southern part of the island.

Any mudslides constitute “significant risks”underlined the prefect: “Chido was a dry cyclone, we had very little rain. This tropical storm is a wet event, we’re going to have a lot of rain (…) on already weakened ground. » A dangerous sea state, particularly in the western lagoon, could also accompany this degradation with a risk of marine submersion.

Barge traffic (local ferries) has been stopped since Saturday 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. in Paris). Marcel-Henry international airport closed its doors at 4 p.m. (2 p.m. in Paris) on Saturday until further notice.

« Nothing is left to chance »

Some 645 civil security personnel were notably prepositioned and “more than 4,000 personnel are mobilized, including 1,500 to reinforce civil security, the police, the gendarmerie and the army”according to the Ministry of the Interior.

The Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, assured Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “nothing[était] left to chance » to ensure the safety of the Mahorais. “We are very worried given what happened the first time”however, confided Saturday Ali Ahmed, a resident of Mamoudzou, to an AFP correspondent on site.

Images broadcast in Mayotte la 1ère showed motorists filling up with fuel at service stations or even families refueling in stores to buy packs of water in particular.

The entry into force of this alert comes less than a month after the passage of Cyclone Chido, the most devastating to hit the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean in ninety years. The latter caused considerable damage in the poorest department in France: it left at least 39 dead and more than 5,600 injured, and caused the destruction of many homes.

Cyclones usually develop in the Indian Ocean from November to March. This year, surface waters are close to 30°C in the area, which favors stronger storms. This global warming phenomenon was also observed this fall in the North Atlantic and the Pacific.