The maximum alert was lifted on Tuesday. Cyclone Belal, which previously hit Reunion Island, also caused enormous damage in neighboring Mauritius. The human toll is at least one dead, a motorcyclist found on a flooded highway, the victim of a road accident.
Less serious, the torrential rains and violent winds of more than 100 km/h carried away the head of the Mauritian meteorological service (MMS) in their wake. according to the France Télévisions news site, La 1ère. He is in fact accused of having issued bad weather forecasts.
Submerged by water
A first alert, triggered on Sunday evening, was quickly lifted, before being reinstated Monday morning. Too late obviously. Mauritians who had gone to work were asked to rush back to their homes around midday. They found themselves trapped outside under downpours of water. Hundreds of people had to be treated by emergency services.
On this tourist island of around 1.3 million inhabitants, popular for its white sand beaches and crystal clear waters, thousands of people found themselves without electricity and many cars submerged by water.
Fatal mix-up
This mix-up was therefore fatal to the weather director. In a statement on national television on Monday, Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth criticized the MMS for its lack of anticipation in the face of the cyclone, and announced that its director had submitted his resignation. It was his second who replaced him.
This Tuesday morning, the government of Mauritius ended up relaxing restrictions, with the cyclone moving away. For its part, the MMS, cautiously, declared that the public was “strongly advised to maintain their precautions and stay in safe places”.