The toll is heavy.
The damage from Cyclone Belal which hit Reunion Island on January 15 is estimated at 100 million euros, France Assureurs said in a press release on Tuesday.
In detail, they are estimated at 82 million for individuals, 14 million for professionals and 4 million for automobiles.
This cyclone which crossed the Indian Ocean island in mid-January with winds exceeding 250 km/h “caused a total of 42,100 losses,” said the professional federation.
“Individual property is by far the most affected with 86% of the number of claims and 82% of the total damage,” notes France Assureurs, emphasizing that insurers were “fully mobilized alongside their policyholders.”
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“I have never seen such violent gusts”: they recount the passage of cyclone Belal in Reunion
The state of natural disaster was recognized on January 22.
The affected households had 30 days from this date to make themselves known to their insurance company.
The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who traveled to the island after the cyclone, had promised “very significant compensation”.
Less catastrophic damage expected
Belal caused the death of four people, with “significant gusts of wind, intense precipitation causing flooding of numerous rivers and strong swells,” she recalled.
The damage, ultimately less catastrophic than what the population and the authorities feared, was mainly recorded in the north and east of the department.
“The damage (…) is covered under damage insurance contracts,” assured the president of France Assureurs Florence Lustman, quoted in the press release.
This is the second most costly cyclone in Reunion after Cyclone Dina, whose damage reached 169 million euros in 2002, according to France Assureurs.