Ruthless Berguitta : Mauritius spared from severe destructions

It’s been almost 15 years since tropical storm Dina had hit Mauritius, and this January 2018, Berguitta was expected to smash our small island. Fortunately for us, the intense cyclone weakened to a Severe Tropical storm. Nevertheless, Berguitta has kept Mauritius on the guard since Tuesday afternoon this week.  

By the time the storm was dangerously close to Mauritius, it lost some of its steam. However, the island witnessed strong winds and torrential rains in the night of Wednesday and during day-time on Thursday. It has passed at around 10km off the coast of Blue Bay and 15 km off Souillac during the mid morning of Thursday. 

Accumulation of water

Berguitta kept the whole island awake the whole night on Wednesday. More than 120mm of rainfalls have been registered around the island.  Torrential rain caused flood affecting 28 regions. At Canal Dayot and Cité la Cure, an evacuation of the inhabitants took place. Several houses were flooded. Other regions affected include Vallée Pitot, Vallée des Prêtres, Coromandel, Highlands, Curepipe, Forest Side, Vacoas, Albion, La Balise and Poste Lafayette, among others.

The fire services had to intervene in more than 80 cases. On the Eastern side of the country, various plantations have suffered serious damages. In Clemencia, several vegetable plantations have been affected. Planters highlight that this situation will give rise to vegetable prices.

Households deprived of electricity

By mid-day on Thursday, 1,000 households were still without electricity in Nouvelle France, Camp Mapou, Camp Roches, Henrietta, Rivière Noire, Highlands and Palmar. During the night of Wednesday, gusts associated with the strong tropical storm Berguitta caused damage to the power grid. At 7:00 hours Thursday, around 2,500 households were deprived of electricity.

The most affected regions were Mahebourg and Blue Bay. Chavan Dabeedin, Transmission and Distribution Manager at Central Electicity Board (CEB), stated on Radio Plus that his team has been working relentlessly to re-establish the situation. He even added that in the region of Petite Rivière, they had cut the supply of electricity because of floods.

In addition, about ten electric pylons were damaged and 25 others were replaced. In the terrible night of Wednesday, an electric pylon in Terre Rouge caught fire. The necessary was done to extinguish the danger.

The hotline services of CWA and CEB have been out of service since Wednesday’s afternoon. These caused a great deal of prejudice for various people who were in trouble.

Several roads closed to traffic

A number of roads were inaccessible to traffic on Thursday due to the falling of trees and accumulation of water. The roads that were closed to traffic include Simonet Street in Albion, Coastal Road in Poste Lafayette, Bras d'Eau, Macondé Road, a road in St Pierre, the main road in Plaine Verte near Centre Idrice Goomany, Phoenix Road to Highlands, near the old Candy Factory, in Phoenix near Aleemiah College. Other inaccessible roads were in Mesnil, Floréal, La Prairie, La Gaulette and Poste de Flacq.

Accident at Wooton

Unfortunately, during this cyclonic weather, an accident occurred on Wednesday at Wooton where a lady, aged 60, lost her life. The lady’s husband was driving the car and the vehicle went off the road, hitting an electrical pylon. According to the police, the driver was taking his wife, who needed medical assistance, to hospital  when the accident occurred.
CWA: Water supply affected in various regions

After the heavy rainfall, the water supply has been affected in various regions around Mauritius. The main reason for this situation is muddy water and some water treatment plants were not operational.

Irresponsible citizens

Despite several warnings from the police and authorities, unfortunately several persons ventured in risky places during class III alert at daytime on Wednesday. People could be seen at beaches such as Post La Fayette, Roche Noires, Pereybère, Trou D’Eau Douce and Pointe aux Piments and some persons were even swimming, although the sea was rough and there was an alert for high waves.

One of the most shocking images was that of a mother who took her six children for fishing at a river in Cité la Cure. The police had to take strict measures and announced that they would fine people who would be seen venturing in cyclonic weather. The icing on the cake was when people went to Blue Bay when they came to know that the cyclone was going to pass near it.

They wanted to experience cyclonic weather in real time. What a pity! Luckily, no misfortunes occurred in spite of such carelessness and irresponsibility on the part of some of our adults.

Economy: Huge loss expected

Economic activity is at a standstill since Wednesday. Businesses, the airport and port were not operational, which will eventually cause huge losses. For a single day, Mauritius can expect a shortfall of Rs 1 billion per day. Similarly, insurance companies will have to pay additional costs because of the damages. The manufacturing sector is expecting a loss of Rs 300 million.

International forecast

Since Monday, international meteorologists have predicted that an intense storm was to hit Mauritius. For example, AccuWeather Meteorologist Jason Nicholls has warned about that the disastrous conditions associated with Berguitta.

He said: “The storm will batter the island with the most widespread damaging winds and flooding rains on Wednesday and Wednesday night.” Additionally, BBC weather presenter Tomasz Schafernaker warned that Tropical Cyclone Berguitta could be the most devastating storms to hit the region since the 1990s. In the end, Berguitta has shown us that cyclones are unpredictable and can change direction unexpectedly.

Fire-fighters carried out over 100 interventions

Since Wednesday, the phone line of the fire-fighters was submerged with calls. They have made more than one hundred interventions. They had to intervene in cases of water accumulation in yards and houses, as well as for rescues.

The region most affected was the Central Plateau, especially in the Plaines Wilhems region. Dorsamy Ayacooty, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, explained on Radio Plus that the biggest intervention took place at Glen Park on Thursday where there were lots of water accumulation and many houses were flooded.

“Various teams were summoned on the ground and are working hard in order to help those who are in need. We also did various interventions in regions like Port Louis, the North, in the East and the West of the island. We made around 30 interventions especially in the East region regarding falling trees, namely at Poste de Flacq, Bel Vedere, Quatres Soeurs, Trou d’Eau Douce,” he said.