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- Thousands of homes were left without power in Mauritius on Wednesday as powerful tropical cyclone Batsiari devastated the Island nation
- Â Wind blew at 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour bringing heavy downpours and winds
-  There are reports that in some places wind peaked at 151 kilometres per hour    in the capital city Port Louis
Thousands of homes were left without power in Mauritius on Wednesday as powerful tropical cyclone Batsiari devastated the Island nation. Wind blew at 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour bringing heavy downpours and winds. There are reports that in some places wind peaked at 151 kilometres per hour    in the capital city Port Louis.
The tropical cyclone, quite usual in the Indian Ocean country, has brought life to a standstill. Public transport was cancelled, shops and banks shut, and air and sea travel halted.
At least 7,500 homes were left without power. Several trees were uprooted and telephone networks were disrupted. This had delayed the reopening of schools closed since the spread of the new Covid variant Omicron. Cyclonic conditions may last for few more hours
The French Island of Reunion, which lies about 230 kilometres southwest of Mauritius, was on red alert. The Batsirai is likely to pass through the  island overnight. Tropical storms and torrential rains have also wreaked havoc in southern Africa in recent days. As reported by www.trendsnafrica.com Storm Ana claimed the lives of 86 people in Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi last week.
 Egypt’s Ministry of Finance  conducted  a community dialogue on the draft budget for the fiscal year 2022/23, which is scheduled to start next July. This is an exercise to collate feedback from  experts, industry and common man their suggestions for the new budget.
