Cyclone Garance: Reunion Island declares state of emergency after five killed by storm

Independent

12-03-2025

A state of emergency has been declared in the French overseas territory of Reunion Island after Cyclone Garance devastated the island and left five people dead.
Floods and mudslides ravaged the Indian Ocean island of around 900,000 residents after the tropical cyclone made landfall on 28 February.
Authorities initially lifted the highest level of cyclone warning, allowing rescue services to begin operations but residents remained under instruction to stay inside.
More than £168,000 (€200,000) is being released by the French government to help local authorities cope with the scale of the damage.
The declaration of a state of emergency means that insurance companies can now cover the damage.
All the affected municipalities are covered by flood insurance, including Saint-Denis, Saint-Paul, and Saint-Pierre, while only Sainte-Marie and Sainte-Rose are also covered by cyclone wind insurance.
Compensation cannot begin until the municipality has been officially declared a state of natural disaster by the French government.
Reunion island is located about 930 miles to the southeast of the French territory of Mayotte, an island group off Africa, which was hit in December by the worst cyclone in nearly a century, with widespread devastation left in its wake.
Power cuts, ripped roofs
The east and north of the island were the most affected parts of the island, with power cuts, uprooted trees, damaged homes and cars swept away by flooding.
Winds reached about 145 miles per hour in Saint-Rose region in the east, and 133 mph in the island's main airport in the north, National weather agency Meteo France said.
Strong winds ripped off roofs, doors, and windows of many buildings, officials said. Tarpaulins were sent to the hardest-hit areas to provide shelter in the eastern part of the island.
About 30 percent of homes were without power, and nearly 10 percent of the island's 885,000 inhabitants lacked access to drinking water, the Reunion prefecture said.
Cyclone Garance's path
Cyclone Garance was one of six named tropical cyclones spinning around the Southern Hemisphere at once in a rare meteorological event not seen in decades.
It formed in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Reunion Island before curving south-eastwards and hitting the north of Reunion island. From there it travelled south down the length of the island, according to Zoom Earth satellite imagery. After exiting the island it travelled about 600 miles further south before veering off east.
It reached peak intensity at Category 3 on a scale from the least severe at 1 to the most severe at 5.
Category 3 cyclones usually reach a maximum of 130 mph, so Meteo France's recording of winds at 145 mph puts the cyclone wind levels way into what would usually be considered Category 4.
The weather agency also said cumulative rainfall on the island exceeded more than 500mm, which leads to heavy downpours and flooding.