Storm-battered Mayotte braces for passage of new cyclone

The French department of Mayotte is to be placed on high cyclone alert on Saturday evening, according to the Minister of Overseas Territories. Authorities fear the effects of cyclone Dikeledi whose trajectory could pass just 75 km south of the archipelago, which is still struggling to get back on its feet a month after cyclone Chido.

Overseas Territories Minister Manuel Valls told BFM TV on Saturday that a current orange alert would become a red alert in the evening, as weather conditions were set to worsen overnight.

The decision came after an emergency cabinet meeting in Paris, coordinated by the Interior Ministry.

National weather bureau Météo France published its forecast saying cyclone Dikeledi would cross Madagascar during the course of the day and pass by approximately 75km from the southern tip of Mayotte on Sunday, where it would be classified as a "strong tropical storm".

Winds of 50 to 60 km/h on average are expected on the whole island and possibly more intense in the south, with gusts between 100 and 120 km/h, the bureau said.

There would also be risk of some coastal flooding on the west and south coasts, the police said, adding that local ferry transportation would be suspended.

Thousands displaced

The new storm alert comes less than a month after the passage of Cyclone Chido, the most devastating storm to hit the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean in 90 years.

At least 39 people were killed, 124 seriously injured and over 5,000 injured.

Aid flows from French cities to Mayotte a month after devastating cyclone

Thousands more lost their homes and have been relying on donations and temporary accomodation to get by.

Mayors have been ordered to reopen accommodation centres such as schools, municipal facilities and gymnasiums, which accommodated some "15,000 people" during Chido.

The police have also requested "positioning of forces, particularly firefighters" especially in shanty towns around the capital Mamoudzou.

Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on the territory said that potential mudslides were "a major risk.

"Chido was a dry cyclone, with very little rain," he added. "This tropical storm is a wet event, we are going to have a lot of rain."

Residents were advised to seek shelter and stock up on food and water.

Mayotte's population stands officially at 320,000, but there are an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 more undocumented inhabitants living in shanty towns that were destroyed by the cyclone in December.