LIVE – Storm Dikeledi: Mayotte placed on red cyclone alert

After reaching the northeast coast of Madagascar around 4:30 p.m. GMT (5:30 p.m. in Paris), Cyclone Dikeledi began to weaken and was downgraded to the stage of a strong tropical storm, according to Météo-France. But it should gradually regain strength when it leaves the land.

“The province of Antsiranana in Madagascar is currently experiencing the most intense conditions of the evening with still destructive winds for the next few hours, heavy rain (extending to the north of the province of Toamasina) and dangerous seas” , specified Météo-France in its 11:00 p.m. bulletin.

After passing through the Mozambique Channel, Dikeledi is expected to pass around 100 km south of Mayotte on Sunday, before being classified as a tropical cyclone again on Monday during the day.

The Minister of Overseas Territories was our guest, as storm Dikeledi approaches Mayotte.

Cyclone Dikeledi arrived on the northeast coast of Madagascar around 5:30 p.m. It began to weaken and was downgraded to the stage of a strong tropical storm, according to Météo-France. But it should gradually regain strength when it leaves the land.

The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, “wishes all the people of Mahor great courage” as the new cyclone approaches. He assures that “the emergency services will be ready to intervene as soon as this cyclonic episode ends, expected for tomorrow”.

Guest of LCI, Overseas Minister Manuel Valls, spoke of the “two scourges of Mayotte”: “illegal immigration which comes, but not only from the Comoros” and “illegal housing”. He once again said he was in favor of a reduction in land rights on the archipelago.

“Until we have dealt with these two questions, we will not be able to rebuild in good conditions,” he declared, adding that there “should be no taboos” on these questions.

“We will recover Mayotte, but it takes time and mobilization,” assured Overseas Minister Manuel Valls on LCI. “We are going to move quickly on all the legal texts, because I don’t want to waste time.”

“725 people are mobilized, with medical teams” in Mayotte, to deal with the arrival of a new cyclone, declared Manuel Valls on LCI.

The red cyclone alert in Mayotte came into effect at 10 p.m. local time.

“Everyone must be safe. Mayotte is barely recovering from Cyclone Chido,” Manuel Valls, Minister of Overseas Territories, declared on LCI, while Mayotte was put on red alert as the cyclone approached. Dikeledi. “I want to make it clear to all our compatriots that this tropical storm can hit a battered territory,” he added, referring to the risks of “floods, mudslides, coastal submersion”.

The FR-Alert system, which sends notifications to mobile phones in the event of a major alert, will be used to inform the inhabitants of Mayotte. “The FR-Alert system is there to inform you in real time. You will receive precise alerts directly on your phone in the event of imminent danger,” explains the prefecture.

As the prefecture explains, the passage of cyclone Dikeledi will be accompanied by “very heavy rain”. These could lead to “flash floods, floods and landslides” from “late next night and well into the day tomorrow”.

“A gradual increase in winds, with gusts that could cause projectiles and objects (garden furniture, tarpaulins, etc.) to fly away, is expected at its strongest in the middle of the day tomorrow and during the afternoon,” adds the prefecture in a press release (new window).

All municipalities in the archipelago have opened emergency reception centers. In total, 79 places are ready to welcome people who need shelter.

The prefecture of Mayotte calls on the population to “confine” themselves, in anticipation of the red cyclone alert, from 10 p.m. “The population must be confined in a solid dwelling, with a stock of water and food available to survive the cyclone,” writes the prefecture on X.

From 10 p.m., “traffic by car and on foot outside the confinement areas is prohibited” and “shops, bars and restaurants” will close their doors. “Several accommodation centers are open for people in vulnerable situations,” adds the prefecture.

Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville specified that the tropical storm should, according to forecasts, pass within 110 km of the southern coasts of the archipelago. “We even have systems that tell us 75 km,” he underlined during a press conference in Mamoudzou this morning.

After passing over the northern tip of Madagascar, the cyclone should re-enter the Mozambique Channel in the second half of the night after having been weakened by its passage over land, Floriane Ben Hassen, head of the Mayotte meteorological center, explained to AFP. . The phenomenon should re-intensify very gradually throughout the day on Sunday, causing the system to once again become a strong tropical storm on Sunday evening, then a tropical cyclone during the day on Monday, specifies the specialist.

Seven hundred Civil Security personnel are particularly mobilized in Mayotte, in anticipation of the passage of cyclone Dikeledi, indicated Manuel Valls.

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In total, “50 tons of materials” were “sheltered”.

Faced with this new cyclone, “nothing is left to chance”, assured Manuel Valls, interviewed by AFP in the middle of the day. Messages in French but also in Shimaoré and Kibushi, two regional languages ​​of Mayotte, were broadcast on radio and television to alert the population.

An interministerial crisis unit met this morning in Paris, under the authority of the Prime Minister’s office.

The authorities had warned: the red cyclone alert in Mayotte will be triggered this evening, at 10 p.m. (8 p.m. in Paris), announced the prefect of Mayotte François-Xavier Bieuville, interviewed on the TV channel Mayotte La 1ère.

“I have decided to bring forward this red alert to 10 p.m. to allow everyone to take shelter, to confine themselves well, to take care of the people close to you, your children, your families, vulnerable people, grandparents, mothers who are isolated, to ensure that everyone can be protected in this upcoming period,” he explained.

Less than a month after the devastating cyclone Chido, the inhabitants of Mayotte must prepare for the passage of tropical storm Dikeledi. The orange alert which prevailed this Saturday could lead to the triggering of the red alert in the evening, warned the Minister of Overseas Territories Manuel Valls and the prefect of Mayotte.

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