SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION (France): Cyclone Garance barrelled across La Reunion island on Friday killing four people as fierce winds left destruction across the French Indian Ocean territory, authorities said.
Winds of up to 230 kilometres per hour battered the territory of 900,000 people and the storm earlier forced the closure of the main airport on nearby Mauritius.
“Four victims,” the prefect of La Reunion said on X.
One woman in her 50s was swept away in torrential water in Saint-Denis, while a man was killed in an electrical fire, also in the capital, authorities said.
One other woman died in a mudslide in Trois Bassins, in the west of the island, the prefecture told AFP.
Five more people were injured.
The red alert ordering the confinement of the population will be maintained until Saturday morning, Prefect Patrice Latron told reporters.
More than 180,000 households were without power, more than 170,000 without water while 134,000 people had lost mobile phone coverage, according to authorities.
Residents posted pictures online of uprooted trees, torn-off roofs and flooded homes. Entire streets were inundated and cars washed away.
Authorities imposed a maximum alert for several hours Friday, confining the entire population — including law enforcement and emergency services — to homes and offices.
That was eased so that police and emergency services could circulate but authorities still ordered the rest of the population to remain indoors.
Prefect Latron said that Garance was fiercer than cyclone Belal that killed four people on La Reunion in January 2024.
Garance landed on the island’s north and barrelled south before heading back out to sea.
While the violent gusts and torrential rain eased, heavy rain and strong winds persisted.
Residents said the force of the cyclone was frightening.
More than 800 people took shelter in emergency structures across the island. – AFP
