Cyclone Belna to make landfall at Mayotte, island on red alert

The small French Island of Mayotte has announced a red alert for Cyclone Belna. On December 8, the small island on the Indian Ocean said that the cyclone threatened its quarter of a million people. According to the latest forecast from Meteo France, the storm is expected to make landfall at the island around 9 pm (local time).

The island has issued a red alert

According to reports, the French Overseas department has warned citizens to stay indoors and not come out under any circumstances for the duration of the storm. On December 9, the storm is expected to hit the Comoros archipelago and the Madagascar islands afterwards. The Comoros archipelago had issued an orange alert while Madagascar had issued yellow alerts. The Mayotte islands have 256,000 inhabitants and before the storm had been advised to stock up on provisions and drinking water.

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According to government representative Jean-Francois Colombet, the island of Mayotte faced a very serious circumstance and all exposed zones of the island have already been evacuated. Government officials have closed off the island's roads and even the airport has been closed as of Sunday afternoon. Cyclone Belna will be the third cyclone to hit Mayotte in the last 50 years.
The Comoros government has already announced orange alert for the island of Anjouan and the other two islands have been issued lesser yellow alerts. The usual precautions in regards to cyclones have been recommended. Cyclone Belna is expected to make landfall in Madagascar by Monday afternoon and the storm is likely to affect the island's tourism.

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Cyclone Belna is a category 2 hurricane according to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The tropical cyclone is small in size and is believed to limit the damage but damaging winds, flooding rain and a storm surge are expected. Belna is only one of three tropical; cyclones that have formed in the western Indian Ocean last week. They are believed to have been caused by a strong El Nino near Africa.