It’s cyclone season, and we have one moving towards the island, named Carlos. On the image, Mauritius is the tiny island outlined white to the right, Réunion is on the left, both east of Madagascar.
Every few hours, the government meteorological services publish a bulletin with an update on the conditions, and a forecast. The current warning is of class II (the maximum is class IV). This allows everyone to prepare.
So we’re currently moving all things from outside into sheltered locations, packing outside ventilators into plastic to protect the motors, and tie other stuff securely down. In my apartment, I will be secure, no doubt. And with our diesel generator, we’ll have electrical power even in the worst case. The public infrastructure might get damaged though, in particular the communication lines, by strong winds and falling trees and branches.
As I’m currently fasting (I might write a post about my experience, we’ll see), I didn’t need to shop a ton of food as reserve. I purchased water today, and the shelves usually filled with water bottles were pretty empty. However, I didn’t see crowds of people with overfilled shopping carts shopping in panic, and the shelves. fridges, and freezers with food were well stocked.
Of course, we still hope the centre of the cyclone will not hit us directly. And, as the current bulletin points out, Carlos has weakened a bit, and does not move as quickly anymore. Since this morning, the cyclone’s trajectory also has changed towards Réunion.
Alas, probably no diving tomorrow, though.