- The Powerful cyclone winds that battered Mauritius on Feb 2nd brought life to a standstill.
- Tropical cyclone Batsirai brought heavy downpours and winds of around 120 kilometres per hour that left thousands of homes without power.
- The capital Port Louis experienced winds with a peak of 151 kilometres per hour.
The Powerful cyclone winds that battered Mauritius on Feb 2nd brought life to a standstill. Tropical cyclone Batsirai brought heavy downpours and winds of around 120 kilometres per hour that left thousands of homes without power. The capital Port Louis experienced winds with a peak of 151 kilometres per hour.
The government cancelled public transport, closed shops and banks, and halted air and sea travel. The local electricity board reported that power connections were snapped after the winds knocked down trees onto electricity lines. The telephone network was also disrupted.
The French island of Reunion, which is about 230 kilometres southwest of Mauritius, was also under red alert for the likely passage of cyclone Batsirai .
Southern Africa has been reporting tropical storms and torrential rains recently leaving widespread destruction. The cyclone season in the south-west Indian Ocean intensified in January 2022, and Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe all encountered damage and destruction due to heavy rainfall and flooding. In late-January 2022, the Tropical Storm Ana brought winds, heavy rains, damage and destruction to parts of Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, affecting several hundred thousand people. In Madagascar, the Tropical Depression caused by the Tropical Storm Ana led to landfall on 22 January, on top of the chaos caused by flooding due to an Intertropical Convergence Zone around 17 January.
