The start of the year was not that glorious. We got our first Cyclone starting January 2024,with two fatalities noted. There were no violent gusts to uproot trees and electricity poles, but an impressive volume of water that swept Port Louis on its way, carrying along, in gushing torrents, people, vehicles and all domestic wastes that were never properly disposed of.  We lost two of our countrymen in this chaos. Two, too many. True that this is classified as an Act of God, but still there were many areas where sound management and communication would have avoided psychological trauma to many ; particularly those who were trapped in the streets of Port Louis, literally like rats in a flooded gutter.

The capital city of Mauritius seems to be a recollection of jigsaw puzzle pieces, all glued together without any vision or planning. Intelligent development stopped, in my observation, when the French and English rulers left the country, centuries ago. If we just cast a glance at the architecture, urban planning, water canalization and infrastructure built during those days, we would realize that we did nothing than harm the intelligence of the town planners of the 1800s and 1900s. I will not delve into this subject as it is a highly controversial one, with a very close link to the political side which I usually keep away from.

January to March is the usual cyclonic period. It is without surprise that we are now facing a second one. At the time I’m writing this blog, we are in Class 2 alert. This implies no educational institution is open. The professional environment is still operational though ; and people are still required to report to their respective duties.  In Class 3, everything is brought to a halt, the population requested to stay safe within the confinement of their sweet homes. Those who have to work in Class 3 are paid thrice their usual pay and this includes work-from-home plans. Private vehicles (non-essential services) are not covered by insurance policies and thus, according to law, cannot circulate in a Class 3 warning.

In the past years, before Covid, we did not observe the phenomenon of panic-buying during cyclones. Each village or town has that special convivial shop which caters for last-minute or emergency shopping. Covid created the panic-buying attitude and now at the announcement of a cyclone, most supermarkets have their shelves emptied at an impressive pace. That brings us to the toilet paper saga when Covid was announced. Unexplainable. But then human reaction is, by nature, explainable in many of its facets. Would we put that on account of evolution? It is probably the most politically correct term.

All to say that the entry to 2024 is not that pink in color. The sky does not wear its royal blue and the clouds are not as white as they should normally be on a summer season. With the general elections lurking at the next corner, everything is being turned into a political issue. The opposition party does not leave any piece of bone, keeping the Government engaged in a constant battle to maintain its credibility and justify its decisions. Accountability, on either side, would have yielded more benefits than anything else. But let’s leave that to the politicians ; they seem to enjoy this population mind game battle.

Business owners, on their side, are trying to keep their boats afloat. There has been a certain momentum during the post-Covid period, allowing many to see a rather positive side of things. Cyclone is a momentary weather upset and, if managed well, should not affect businesses in the medium and long term (still in comparison to the prolonged Covid scenario). There might be a slowdown of activities in the event that communication infrastructure and electricity networks are impacted through cyclonic damage. Most of our systems are still linked to overhead wires connected through (archaic) poles and pillars. Damages are repaired fairly quickly, it should be said. The Central Electricity Board (CEB) is always on standby and acts promptly, knowing that the country cannot afford blackouts (we are not fans of load shredding !

Also worthy of note is the volume of rainwater we received. This is our only source of water as desalination is not for the near future, despite the fact that we are an island. From end of the year to the first quarter of the next, we are usually under a drought management system, with a reduced volume sent to our taps. The local TV and radio stations would, every now and then, report on the percentage of water contained in our reservoirs. But with the first cyclone, and then this one, it looks like would not be facing any water crisis.

In the past, I did address the folkloric side of Mauritian cyclone. You can read the article here. It will surely lighten up your heart !

Mauritius is resilient and always bounces back to its feet, supported by the legendary solidarity of its population. This has always been the case and there is no sign of it changing soon !

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