Cyclone Dumps Heavy Rains on Mauritius En Route to Madagascar
Cyclone Batsirai moves close to Mauritius on Feb. 2.
Source: CIRA/RAMMB
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Mauritius closed its main airport, banks and beaches as it braced for the effects of a severe cyclone that’s brought heavy rains and strong winds to the Indian Ocean island nation.
Wind speeds reached 133 kilometers per hour (83 miles per hour) and parts of the nation received 118.5 millimeters (7 inches) of rain as Tropical Cyclone Batsirai swirled north of the country, the Mauritius Meteorological Services said in a statement. The storm will pass about 130 kilometers north of Mauritius as it drifts westward toward the much bigger island of Madagascar, where it’s expected to make landfall as an intense tropical cyclone on Feb. 5, according to forecasts from Meteo France.