Chaos and floods. Tropical Cyclone Belal Hits French Island of Reunion

On December 15 and 16, 2024, a huge storm named Tropical Cyclone Belal hit two islands in the Indian Ocean: Reunion and Mauritius.Show more

First, let’s talk about Reunion. This island is home to about 860,000 people. As the storm came close, everyone was told to stay in their homes for safety. The weather was so bad that even the police and rescue teams had to stay inside. The storm was really strong, but thankfully, the middle part of the storm didn’t hit the island directly. Still, many people didn’t have electricity or water at home.

Next, the storm moved to Mauritius. People there had to stay inside from Monday evening until Tuesday noon. Airports and many places like government offices and stores were closed. The storm brought a lot of rain and caused a lot of damage. Roads in the capital city, Port Louis, were flooded, and some cars were even washed away. One person said their car was carried by the water for a long way, and they had never seen anything like it.

Sadly, two people died because of the storm, and about 100,000 people were affected. More than 1,000 people had to leave their homes.

Did you know that tropical cyclones happen more often from January to March in the southern part of the world? It’s because it’s summer there, and the ocean water is really warm. Warm water makes these storms stronger. Scientists have noticed that the oceans are getting warmer, and this makes more and bigger storms. They found out that hot liquid rock from deep inside the Earth is making the ocean water warm.

Why is this happening? What will happen next? Are we ready for more storms like this? You can learn more about this from the “Global Crisis. Responsibility” forum. Let’s watch a part of the forum now.