Cyclone Garance, a category 3 cyclone carrying gusts of up to 70 kilometers an hour, was on Thursday deemed a "direct threat" to the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and La Reunion, placing both countries on high alert and prompting a race to stockpile of essentials.

Mauritius International Airport has been closed following a class 3 cyclone alert as Cyclone Garance approaches the island.

Cyclone Garance killed a woman in La Reunion on Friday as fierce winds caused destruction across the French Indian Ocean territory, police said. He said Garance was even fiercer than Cyclone Belal that killed four people on La Reunion in January 2024.