A few days after the passage of Cyclone Belal, which killed four people without causing serious damage, tens of thousands of people still do not have access to electricity, water or communications, the prefecture announced on Friday 19 January.
Winds were violent during the cyclone’s passage, with gusts reaching 217 km/h at Piton Maido, according to Meteo-France. Due to which the power network was seriously damaged due to falling trees and branches. At the end of the Red Alert on Tuesday, 150,000 homes were without power. At midday on Friday, this was still the case for 15,000 of them. According to Dominique Charzat, director of EDF Reunion, it will take about a thousand interventions and “a few days” To restore power everywhere.
Electrical problems also affect water supply. As of Thursday evening, 56,000 households, or 7% of the population, still had no running water, according to prefect Jerome Filippini. Still not receiving the results of the analysis, the regional health agency recommends using bottled water for human consumption, or boiling tap water for at least thirty minutes to make it drinkable.
Agriculture sector has been affected
The cyclone also affected the island’s electricity generation. The Rivière de l’Est hydraulic power station was heavily damaged. After the first evaluation, EDF plans to work on the installation for several months. As a result, EDF has activated an orange “electricity weather” alert and called on residents to pay attention to their consumption in the evenings during periods of high consumption.
Rain and wind have also severely affected the island’s agricultural sector. According to Jérôme Filippini, damage assessment is ongoing, but the first elements show a widely distributed damage across the island, especially in the fruit and vegetable sector.
For Frederick Wien, president of the local Chamber of Agriculture, “We already know that (damage) will be more than Bejisa »The cyclone that hit Reunion in early January 2014. At the time, the damage was estimated at more than 40 million euros, he recalls.
By Tuesday, the Chamber of Agriculture, the Association of Mayors and the Departmental Council had requested the recognition of a state of emergency for the whole of Reunion, given that, according to Frederic Vienne, “There is not a single area of the island, not a single agricultural field that has not been affected”. The prefect announced on Thursday evening that the decree could be published “Sunday or Monday” Mu official newspaper.
