Residents of the French territory of Mayotte braced Sunday, January 12, for a storm expected to bring strong winds and flash floods less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by Cyclone Chido.
Mayotte was placed on red alert from 1900 GMT on Saturday in anticipation of the passage of Dikeledi, a storm forecast to skirt about 100 km (62 miles) south of the territory. It hit the northern coast of Madagascar as a cyclone on Saturday evening and weakened into a severe tropical storm, but is expected to regain intensity as it moves towards Mayotte. It could be reclassified as a cyclone by Monday morning, according to French national weather service Meteo-France.
“Significant rain and wind deterioration is confirmed for the morning” in Mayotte, Meteo-France said in an update just before 6 am local time on Sunday (0300 GMT). “Very heavy rains could generate flash floods,” it warned, adding that “floods and landslides are expected in the coming hours.”
It could also bring wind gusts of up to 90 km per hour to the French territory, as well as “dangerous sea conditions.”
Authorities called for “extreme vigilance” following the devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido in mid-December. Residents were advised to seek shelter and stock up on food and water. “Nothing is being left to chance,” Manuel Valls, France’s new overseas territories minister, told Agence France-Presse. Messages in French and two regional languages were broadcast on radio and television to alert the population.
More than 4,000 personnel have been mobilized in Mayotte, including members of police and the military, said the interior ministry. The prefect has requested that mayors reopen accommodation centers such as schools and gyms that sheltered around 15,000 people in December. He also ordered firefighters and other forces to be deployed to “extremely fragile” shantytowns in Mamoudzou and elsewhere. Potential mudslides were “a major risk”, the prefect said. “Chido was a dry cyclone, with very little rain,” he added. “This tropical storm is a wet event, we are going to have a lot of rain.”
Mayotte’s population stands officially at 320,000, but there are an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 more undocumented residents living in shanty towns that were destroyed by the cyclone in December.
