The orange cyclone alert was triggered this Saturday in Reunion as a new cyclone approaches. Called Emnati, it should pass about 300 km from the island on Sunday evening, the prefecture said in a press release.
The alert has been in effect since Saturday 5:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. in mainland France) while the intensity of Emnati could strengthen and reach the intense cyclone stage, warns Météo-France.
If it continues its current trajectory, Emnati should be closest to the island on Sunday evening and pass about 300 km north of the island, indicates the prefecture.
The cyclone is currently 655 km northeast of this Indian Ocean island and is moving west at a speed of 19 km/h.
During the night from Sunday to Monday and during the day on Monday, the winds could exceed 120 km / h on the coast and 140 km / h in the interior of the island, where heavy rains could fall.
In orange alert, economic life continues normally but all schools must close their doors.
“A notch below the conditions known for Batsirai”
A passage on red alert, synonymous with total confinement of the population with the exception of the emergency services and the police, has not been mentioned by the authorities at this stage.
Meteorologists also indicate that the expected degradation should be “one notch below the conditions known for Batsirai” which skirted the coasts of the island on February 3 and 4, causing significant damage, before continuing its way to Madagascar where it was fatal to 111 people. A deterioration in sea conditions is also expected from Saturday evening.
“The state of the current swell and its expected deterioration in the coming hours do not allow the deployment of effective response strategies at sea”, specifies the prefecture in reference to the operations planned to fight against pollution from a stranded Mauritian ship. on the island during a cyclone in February.
In early February, Cyclone Batsirai caused damage estimated at 47 million euros. Twenty municipalities on the island have been declared in a state of natural disaster.