Indian Ocean island Mayotte on cyclone alert 8 December 2019 Most people had respected the official advice to stay indoors and off the streets, Colombet told a local newspaper. The island's 256,000 inhabitants have also been advised to stock up on drinking water. After Mayotte, the cyclone was forecast on Monday to hit the neighbouring Comoros archipelago then the island of Madagascar. They issued orange and yellow alerts respectively. Mayotte's airport has been closed, and the island's roads declared off-limits from Sunday afternoon. The Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has been placed on This will be the third cyclone to hit the island in 50 red alert for cyclone Belna years, Colombet said. The Comoros government announced an orange alert for the island of Anjouan, while the Hopes rose Sunday on the small French Indian archipelago's other two islands were placed on a Ocean island of Mayotte, which has been on red lesser yellow alert. alert for the arrival of Cyclone Belna, that a last- minute change of course might limit the damage. The authorities called on the population to take the usual precautions: shutter windows and doors, The storm was forecast to make landfall on the stock up on provisions and prepare to take refuge island, home to a quarter of a million people, in mosques, schools or others homes if necessary. Sunday evening. The archipelago was struck by Cyclone Kenneth in But Mayotte's governor Jean-Francois Colombet April, killing at least three people before it continued said the latest forecasts from France-Meteo on to Mozambique, where it caused widespread showed the cyclone beginning to veer off to the damage. south, possibly sparing the island its full force. Cyclone Belna is expected to land on Madagascar's Officials in the French overseas department had northwest coastal region of Boeny on Monday earlier warned inhabitants to stay indoors and "not afternoon. go out under any circumstances". Madagascar's northern tourism island of Nosy Be Schools were to be closed on Monday, in part was also expected to be affected. because many were being used as emergency shelters for between 10,000 and 15,000 of the The country's transport ministry called on fishermen islanders most vulnerable to possible damage not to take to the sea because of fierce winds. caused by Belna. © 2019 AFP 1 / 2 APA citation: Indian Ocean island Mayotte on cyclone alert (2019, December 8) retrieved 2 October 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2019-12-indian-ocean-island-mayotte-cyclone.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. 2 / 2 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).