Residents of the French territory of Mayotte braced on Saturday, January 11, for a storm expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by a deadly cyclone.
Mayotte was placed on an orange weather alert in anticipation of the passage of Cyclone Dikeledi to the south of the territory. Authorities called for "extreme vigilance" following the devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido in mid-December.
Météo-France predicted "significant rain and windy conditions," saying that very heavy rain could cause flooding. The most devastating cyclone to hit France's poorest department in 90 years caused colossal damage, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 5,600 in December. "We need to be seriously prepared for the possibility of a close passage of the cyclone and the triggering of a red alert," the Mayotte prefecture said on X.
Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on the territory, said the cyclone was forecast to pass within 110 kilometers of the archipelago's southern coast. "We even have systems telling us 75 kilometers. So we have something that is going to hit Mayotte very closely," he told reporters in Mamoudzou on Saturday morning. He said that a red alert would "probably" be issued in the evening.
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."
However, forecasters expect the cyclone to weaken on Saturday night "to the stage of a strong tropical storm, before moving off the coast of southern Mayotte during the day on Sunday."
The prefect has requested that mayors reopen accommodation centers such as schools and gymnasiums that sheltered around 15,000 people in December. Residents were advised to seek shelter and stock up on food and water.
Mayotte's population stands officially at 320,000, but there are an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 more undocumented inhabitants living in shanty towns that were destroyed by the cyclone in December.