MAMOUDZOU, Jan 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Residents of the French territory of 
Mayotte braced on Saturday for a storm expected to bring strong winds and 
heavy rain less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was 
devastated by a deadly cyclone.

Mayotte was placed on an orange weather alert in anticipation of the passage 
of Cyclone Dikeledi to the south of the territory.

Authorities called for "extreme vigilance" following the devastation wrought 
by Cyclone Chido in mid-December.

Meteo-France predicted "significant rain and windy conditions", saying that 
very heavy rain could cause flooding.

The most devastating cyclone to hit France's poorest department in 90 years 
caused colossal damage, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 
5,600 in December.

"We need to be seriously prepared for the possibility of a close passage of 
the cyclone and the triggering of a red alert," the Mayotte prefecture said 
on X.

Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on the 
territory, said the cyclone was forecast to pass within 110 kilometres (70 
miles) of the archipelago's southern coast.

"We even have systems telling us 75 kilometres. So we have something that is 
going to hit Mayotte very closely", he told reporters in Mamoudzou on 
Saturday morning.

He said that a red alert would "probably" be issued in the evening.

However, forecasters expect the cyclone to weaken on Saturday night "to the 
stage of a strong tropical storm, before moving off the coast of southern 
Mayotte during the day on Sunday".

The prefect has requested that mayors reopen accommodation centres such as 
schools and gymnasiums that sheltered around 15,000 people in December.

He also ordered firefighters and other forces to be deployed to "extremely 
fragile" shantytowns in Mamoudzou and elsewhere.

Potential mudslides were "a major risk", the prefect said.

"Chido was a dry cyclone, with very little rain," he added.

"This tropical storm is a wet event, we are going to have a lot of rain."

Residents were advised to seek shelter and stock up on food and water.

Mayotte's population stands officially at 320,000, but there are an estimated 
100,000 to 200,000 more undocumented inhabitants living in shanty towns that 
were destroyed by the cyclone in December.

In Mamoudzou, Camelia Petre, 35, said she would be sheltering in her house, 
which "held up during Chido."

She told AFP that she would be "taking in friends and colleagues who have 
lost their homes."

She was "very worried about the vulnerable population," she added.