The red cyclone alert will be in effect from 9 p.m. on Sunday February 20 in Reunion where the inhabitants are called upon to confine themselves to the approach of a new cyclone, even if the latter, baptized “Emnati”, will increase to more 300 kilometers north of the coast.
“Everyone must confine themselves from 9 p.m. [18 heures à Paris] and until further notice » and this “gather in the most protected room with all the basic necessities”said the prefect Jacques Billant during a situation update in the middle of the followingnoon.
The municipalities have opened emergency accommodation centers and “No one should stay out [dimanche] evening “insisted the representative of the State who anticipates traffic conditions “particularly dangerous, especially at dawn”.
The main traffic artery in the northwest of the island, the coastal road was closed in one direction and might be completely closed at 9 p.m.
Flights scheduled for Monday morning have been postponed and all schools will be closed for Monday.
Cyclone tropical intense
Among the 3,000 homes deprived of electricity on Sunday morning, another 1,500 were in the followingnoon, with EDF services being on the ground to restore them, said the prefect.
“Emnati continues to go from strength to strength”specified the local director of Météo-France, Emmanuel Cloppet, describing a « cyclone tropical intense » located less than 400 kilometers from the coast and which “will continue to slowly approach”. If Emnati will stay “at a distance greater than 300 kilometers” north of the coast, the cyclone “will lead to a significant deterioration in weather conditions” with strong winds expected up to 120 km/h on the coast and 140 km/h in the interior of the island overnight, the meteorologist said.
About 400 millimeters of rain have already fallen in the past twenty-four hours, he said, precipitation “certainly lower than those of Batsirai but significant”.
In early February, the passage of this previous cyclone near the island caused enormous damage, estimated at 47 million euros for farms alone, before dramatically hitting Madagascar, where 120 people died.
Twenty municipalities in Reunion have been classified as being in a natural disaster situation and a Mauritian ship ran aground, causing the start of marine pollution. Operations to prevent it had to be halted upon Emnati’s arrival.
“We never knew” two cyclones so close together, noted the prefect.