Tropical Cyclone Belal hits the French island of Reunion. Nearby Mauritius is also on high alert

abcnews.go.com:

A tropical cyclone has hit the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, bringing intense rains and powerful winds and leaving about a quarter of the households without electricity and tens of thousands of homes suffering water cuts

SAINT-PAUL, Réunion — A tropical cyclone hit the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean on Monday, bringing intense rains and powerful winds and leaving about a quarter of households without electricity and tens of thousands of homes without water, authorities said.

Nearby Mauritius was also on high alert as authorities there said they expected to feel the effects of Cyclone Belal as it made its way through the southwestern Indian Ocean.

In Reunion, local authorities said that the highest alert level — or purple alert — that was announced on Sunday had been lifted after the worst of the storm had passed. But residents were still urged to remain sheltered indoors and heavy rains and winds of up to 170 kilometers per hour (105 miles per hour) were expected to continue blowing on the island of about 860,000 people.

Belal’s intensity appeared to be slightly decreasing, the prefecture of Reunion said in a statement. Some 8-meter (26-feet) high waves have been recorded, it said.

Many people had lost internet and phone services, and a homeless person who was not in a shelter was found dead in Saint-Gilles, on the island’s west coast. The circumstances of the death were unclear.

Under the purple alert, people were told to stay at home and even emergency services were under lockdown. French weather forecaster Meteo France said Belal reached Reunion on Monday morning local time, bringing “heavy rains, sometimes stormy, very violent winds and powerful and raging seas.”

Prefect Jérôme