Reunion on purple alert since 6 am this Friday morning – Liberation
All at shelters. This Friday, the prefect of Reunion Patrice Latron announced, during a press briefing, the entry into force on the island of the cyclonic purple alert from 9:00 am (6 hours in Paris). The prefect decreed the transition to purple due to gusts of wind « Which could exceed 200 km/h », During this press conference, the interregional meteo-France director, Céline Jauffret said during this press conference.
Last level of the cyclonic alert system, the purple alert implies the strict confinement of the entire population, including the police and the mobilized emergency services. « We expect a direct impact of the wall of the eye and the eye in the morning »said Céline Jauffret.
In his latest bulletin published at 7 am (4 hours in Paris), Météo France stressed that Madder « Maintains at the stage of intense tropical cyclone despite a tendency to weakening that starts to take place ». However, the institute specifies that the cyclone continues to « Go directly closer to the meeting » And « Always presents a very important cyclonic threat to the island ». At 7 am local (4 hours in Paris), Garance was 90 km north of the Reunion land, according to Météo-France.
The authorities urged the inhabitants not to go out and to follow the safety instructions. “I call our compatriots Reunionese to the greatest vigilance and respect for the safety instructions. The state is by your side and our forces mobilized. Nation solidarity « said President Emmanuel Macron on X Thursday evening. All the municipalities of the island have opened their emergency accommodation centers to the public. More than 500 people living in precarious housing or having no domicile are currently hosted, has detailed the prefect.
According to EDF, 4,000 households are no longer powered by electricity. Friday morning, the prefect said that « 8.4 % of subscribers (had) more internet access and the phone. »
Before the arrival of the cyclone, the last preparations punctuated the day Thursday in Saint-Denis. « I told myself that I had time to do my shopping, bad pick »sighed Franck Vitry, waiting in the long line of a port supermarket (west). « It took me 30 seconds to take my water pack, and there, it's been 10 minutes since I'm waiting for a checkout! »
Some also anticipated long hours of waiting at home. « I took rolls of puff pastry, eggs and sugar to boss with my children during the red alert »says Maryvonne Laurent, 36, shopping with her two sons.
Reunion International Airport suspended all its flights on Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. on neighboring Mauritius, 200 km away, the airport had stopped any activity on Wednesday. In land, concern grows among farmers. In Etang-Salé-les-Hauts (South), Jean-Christophe Hoareau, vegetable producer, withdrew the deaths of his greenhouses in the soul. He knows that his cultures will not resist cyclone.
« The feeling of being helpless, not to know if it will resist … Each time, we lose our cultures because we do not take the risk and we save our structure »he confides to AFP.
If Garance proved as powerful as it is feared, the meeting could relive an episode comparable to that of January 2024. At the time, the island had been placed on a purple alert during the passage of the Intense Cyclone Belal, which had left four dead.
