Torrential rains and gusty winds. Weather conditions began to deteriorate in Mayotte on Sunday January 12 in the morning, while the cyclone Dikeledi approaches the archipelago. Some tarpaulins installed on buildings damaged by Cyclone Chido less than a month ago did not hold up, reports Mayotte La 1ere. The French department is still on red alert for cyclone risk. Follow our live stream.
Dikeledi is getting closer to Mayotte. After reaching the northeast coast of Madagascar on Saturday afternoon, the cyclone began to weaken and was downgraded to the stage of a strong tropical storm, with wind gusts reaching 130 km/h at sea, according to 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.
Travel prohibited. The 320,000 inhabitants of the poorest department in France were invited to take shelter “in a solid dwelling” or in one of the 79 emergency accommodation centers (schools, MJC, mosques, etc.) set up in all the municipalities of the archipelago. The population was called upon to stock up on water and food to “hold out the time of the cyclone”, urged the prefecture. Throughout the duration of the alert, all traffic is prohibited except for emergency services and authorized people.
The mobilized state. Some 645 Civil Security personnel are pre-positioned in strategic locations in the archipelago to intervene as quickly as possible following the cyclone alert in order to “provide relief, assess the damage and assist the population”indicated Civil Security. Overseas Minister Manuel Valls assured AFP that “nothing[était] left to chance” to ensure the safety of the Mahorais.
