The government recognized on Tuesday the state of natural disaster in several municipalities of Reunion, hard hit by cyclone Belal which caused the death of four people, according to a decree published Tuesday in the Official Journal.
This decision, which concerns 24 municipalities on the French island of the Indian Ocean, paves the way for compensation for damage caused by the passage of the cyclone.
Last Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Grald Darmanin, visiting a farm in the south of the overseas territory, announced on Meeting.
The damage caused on the French island particularly affected agriculture.
The president of the local Chamber of Agriculture, Frédric Vienne, estimated that the sector’s losses would be higher than those of Bejisa, the cyclone which hit Reunion in early January 2014, without giving a precise figure.
Belal hit the island of La Reunion last Monday morning, swept by torrential rains and winds of up to 200 km/h. It then continued its route towards Mauritius, approximately 200 km to the north-east, where it also caused very significant damage and one death.