The China Mail - Four dead as French island reels from devastating cyclone

Local people expressed shock at the level of destruction after Cyclone Garance struck the territory of 900,000 people Friday, uprooting trees, tearing off roofs and flooding homes. Entire streets were inundated and cars washed away.

A red alert, ordering the population to stay indoors, was lifted on Saturday morning after Garance was downgraded to a severe tropical storm.

The body of a man was found trapped under a tree in the capital, Saint-Denis, officials said Saturday.

The other victims, two women and a man, were carried away by flash floods, trapped in a mudslide or killed by an electrical fire, the authorities said Friday.

"We are deeply shaken," Samantha Boyer said in Saint-Denis where one of the women had been swept away.

"We tried to get the lady out of the drainage outlet," she said. "We called all the neighbours and really tried to rescue her, but we couldn't."

The east and north of the island bore the brunt of the damage.

- 'Never been so scared' -

Fierce winds damaged the house of Therese Borel, who lives in the eastern town of Saint-Benoit, tearing off the roof. She and her husband took refuge at their son's house, who lives nearby.

"When I arrived at my son's house, just behind, I sat down on the floor and started crying," said Borel.

"I didn't have much to begin with, now I have nothing," she said.

"I had never been so scared in my life," added her son Jimmy.

The roof of Krishna Cadivel's house was also blown away.

"I've lived here for 55 years, I've been through several cyclones," said the resident of the nearby town of Bras-Panon. "I've never seen anything like it."

Some 120,000 people were still without electricity, while more than 950 were staying in temporary accommodation centres.

More than 310,000 residents had no access to drinking water.

In a gymnasium in Saint-Denis, where some locals found shelter, Marie-Pierrette Narsou said the cyclone had left her "a bit traumatised".

"It was really bad," she added.

Prefect Patrice Latron, the central government representative on the island, said "a lot of work" would be needed, with many roads blocked by fallen trees.

"A few stores have been looted, mainly for provisions, but we cannot say it has been widespread," he added.

Manuel Valls, France's overseas territories minister, was due to arrive in La Reunion in the coming days, his team said.

- Millions of euros in damage -

During the passage of the cyclone on Friday, French weather office Meteo-France recorded winds of up to 230 kilometres (143 miles) per hour in Piton Sainte-Rose on the island's eastern coast.

Latron said Garance was fiercer than cyclone Belal, which killed four people on Reunion in January 2024 and caused an estimated 100 million euros ($104 million) in damage.

The island's international airport reopened on Saturday.

The nearby tourist island of Mauritius had shut its main airport on Wednesday, while Reunion had shut down to flights on Thursday.

In Saint-Gilles-les-Bains on the island's west coast, a ravine burst its banks, sending muddy water pouring through the town centre.

Local council workers started clearing the mud from the streets early on Saturday morning.

"We're shovelling it away," said one. "Residents are helping us but there's far too much mud. We've had to bring in excavators."

About 200 firefighters and military personnel were to be sent in over the weekend from Mayotte, a French territory nearly 1,500 kilometres away, and from mainland France, the government said.

Floris Carpaye of farmers union FDSEA said the agricultural sector had been hit hard, especially market gardening.

"It's a real catastrophe," Carpaye said. "It's going to cost tens of millions of euros."

B.Clarke--ThChM