Batsirai is still hurting us as a cyclone while it is slowly moving away at a speed of 8km/h towards Reunion Island. It is found about 270km Northwest of Mauritius. The country is still under a strong wind and swell warning. There are still torrential rains over the highlands and most of the island, despite the heavy rainfall warning being lifted.
Scattered cases of damage
The east-north-east wind is estimated to be around 45 km/h with gusts up to 100 km/h at times. There is a risk of tidal waves on the north and east coasts. Besides, the beaches do not look welcoming with filao trees which did not resist the violent winds, such as in Flic en Flac where a filao crushed a Fast-Food trailer during its fall.
Flying debris and loose branches, uprooted or broken trees and pylons, fallen transformers, roads clogged with debris, flooded streets and alleys, yards and homes, devastated plantations that are causing great concern to small planters, damaged shops and businesses, public structures and street structures damaged by the gusts… The weather on Thursday 03rd February is not less catastrophic and frightening than during a Class 3 Alert. The Special Mobile Force teams have been focusing on priorities and urgent cases, such as clearing out of the important streets and evacuating streets affected by water accumulation such as Bras-D’Eau, Anse La Raie, Chamarel, Rivière-des-Anguilles and Malenga.
28 shelters full
28 refuge centres are fully booked. They house around 240 people seriously affected by the cyclone. According to figures from the Ministry of Social Security, there are 75 in Tranquebar, 27 in Cité La Cure, 11 in Mahébourg, 11 in Roche-Bois and 8 in Congomah. These are only the official figures recorded by the Ministry. The police went to the field to see the houses and other centres. These are people whose homes are no longer fit for habitation.
Supplies gradually restored
During the day of Cyclone Class 4, nearly 15,000 complaints of power outages were recorded. At the official figures on Wednesday evening, 7500 homes around the island were without power with the work gradually being done by those brave CEB technicians since and during the night of Wednesday to now so as to restore connections. By the end of this week, all supplies will be restored, especially in the areas reported to be most affected in the North of the country, namely Goodlands, Pamplemousses, Tranquebar, Port Louis, Coromandel, Beau Bassin and Rose Hill areas of Curepipe, Plaines Wilhems in general and in several areas in the west. This is similar for the areas affected by water cuts. On Thursday morning, the Central Water Authority began the work.
Low Presence
In terms of employment, public transport traffic was reduced in this still cyclonic weather. The same goes for private vehicle fleets. The Ministry of Public Service reported that only 60% of civil servants responded while the figure is unknown for the private sector. Work from Home has been favoured in those sectors where this formula is possible. It should be noted that many companies were either without electricity, flooded, had technical breakdowns or were unable to open due to a lack of staff, who were themselves unable to travel or victims of the continuing bad weather. As for the schools whose face to face resumption has been postponed for Monday 07th February, the courses continued online. The crèches, on the other hand, resumed but given that it was up to the parents to decide whether to send their children or not, the crèches were not fully booked. SSRIA airport was able to resume operations as was the Metro Express, which resumed at around 10am with a reduced amount of passengers.
Reservoirs 84.3% full
If there is any good news, it is the state of our reservoirs. Joe Lesjongard, the Minister of Public Utilities, announced on Thursday that our reservoirs are 84.3% full, that is over 77.68 millimetres of cubic capacity. Piton-du-Milieu is 100%, La Nicolière is 96% full, Bagatelle Dam is 95.7% and Mare-aux-Vacoas is 85.6%. The highest rainfall was recorded at Mon-Bois near Mare-aux-Vacoas with 19.6 mm, in Vacoas 171.7 mm, Quatre-Bornes 153.6 mm and Bell Village 153.3 mm.
1 death
One death was reported whereby Ramjeet Gosto, aged 55 years old and a driver for Triolet Bus Service (TBS), died in an accident. He was on his way to work on Thursday morning on a motorbike and has hit a fallen filao on the track in Trou-aux-Biches.
