As a terrible consequence of climatic change the world over, including our motherland, our dear island – long known as the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean – have been victims of flash floods. The deadliest one in Mauritius – causing the death of 11 persons – occurred on Saturday March 30th, 2013. Flash floods occurred also in 2008 in Mon-Goût and recently this year. Plaine-Magnien in the south-east was the last locality to be affected by flash floods.
Floods in our island’s history
However, it is not the first time that our island has been victim of floods. Floods plagued the first colonisers of the island. The Dutch recorded floods that cost them human and animal lives, destruction of property and installations such as saw-mills. For instance, this happened under the rule of Dutch governors Hugo and Lamotius. “For cutting up the ebony trees into smaller pieces which could then be more easily carried to the seashore, several governors tried to build saw-mills driven by water. Hugo built the first in 1673, near the Fort. But when storms came the stream rose rapidly and washed the mill away. Lamotius, who became governor after Hugo, made another mill for cutting wood, but a flood ruined this also.”(1)
Yet another tragedy linked with a deadly flood hit the Dutch towards the end of their occupation of the island. That happened in the wake of a disastrous cyclone in February 1695, qualified as “the worst in twenty-two years”.(2) The then governor, Roelof Deodati (1692-1703), gave this report of the tragedy: “It began at three in the morning from the north-east and passed away the following night at about four a.m. The wind was so loud, like the sound of terrible thunderclaps following each other in rapid succession, that we could not hear each other’s voices. There was heavy rain such as had never been seen before. The sea rose extraordinarily high, and two flood tides followed upon the other without any ebb, so the low lands of the island were completely covered with rain and water as if with a white sheet. The lodge, built on an eminence, was completely surrounded with water, so we could not escape to the mountains. On the plain around the lodge the water stood nine feet deep and rushed down from the mountains with such force that all the small cattle and stags were swept away into the sea. Fifty-seven cows and oxen of the Company were lost. Most of the roof of the lodge was blown off.”(Ibid)
Desolation everywhere after the 1695 flood
Historian Moree added that “after the cyclone Deodati found desolation everywhere.”(Ibid) The damage caused were substantial: “Even the corpses had been washed away from the cemetery. The sugarcane planted at and around Flacq was destroyed.”(Ibid) Deodati’s government faced another destructive flood in 1702, reported by historian Pitot. « Pitot nous apprend qu’après l’ouragan de 1702, qui fut accompagné d’une terrible inondation, l’eau monta dans les maisons jusqu’à mi-hauteur des murs, ‘surtout au Port Nord-Ouest’, où une petite demeure fut presque entièrement submergée. Les maisons en question ne devaient être que de méchantes paillotes élevées sur la rive droite du ruisseau du Pouce, emplacement que les Hollandais désignaient sous le nom de Camp…»(3) So, ‘Port Nord-Ouest’ (Port-Louis) was as exposed to flooding as the port in the south-east, at Grand-Port, where the Dutch had their headquarters.
More than one and a half century later, the same area of Port Louis, around the Pouce stream, was flooded but with much more serious consequences. “The cyclone which struck the town in February 1865 caused flooding such as had not been seen for many years. In the region of the Chaussée, two streams, the Pouce and the Butte à Tonniers, burst their banks; so did the Pucelles stream in the eastern part of the town. The volume of flood-water was so great that the water was five feet deep in the houses built in the hollow near the Company’s Garden. The floods drowned thirty people and caused much damage. The shops in the Chaussée, the harbour workshops, the docks all suffered severely. The Municipal and Bathurst canals were partly destroyed.” (4)
Damage to goods and infrastructure
At this juncture we can quote a press article of historian Raymond d’Unienville which appeared in April 2013 after the flood which had hit Port Louis some time back, referring to the damage caused to a stock of sugar in the wake of the 1865 flood: « Les ‘Mauritius Reports’ apportent le témoignage des juges Bestel et Colin dans l’affaire Ceylon Co. vs Chauvin: «The delivery Order for the Richemare sugars was of the 28th January 1865… Unfortunately the Defendant had not taken delivery on the 12th February 1865 and on that day the sugars in question or at least part of them, were lost or damaged through the flood which caused so much loss of life and property in this island.” (1866 M.R. 32, 34).»
Let us refer again to Raymond d’Unienville’s 2013 press article: « Lucien Autard de Bragard, ingénieur, fils de la Dame Créole, revenant de Montagne Longue vers 21 heures, sa voiture fut engloutie au passage de la rivière des Lataniers devenue torrentueuse. (Dictionnaire de Biographie Mauricienne p. 1730). He then pinpointed to the root cause of the 1865 flood in Port Louis.«…les eaux des ruisseaux transformés en torrents, endiguées par les travaux ferroviaires ne trouvaient plus leur accès naturel à la mer.» (D.B.M. p. 708). He then made an appeal to the public to keep waterways unobstructed. « Conclusion : ne rien faire qui puisse mettre un obstacle naturel à la mer. »
Since then, Port Louis has never been spared by floods. « On 7 May 1884 there was the repetition of the disaster of February 1865. Long-continued torrential rain brought about heavy flooding in the neighbourhood of the Chaussée and of the Company’s Garden. Luckily, the floods came less suddenly than in 1865, so there was time to save much of the contents of the houses and shops that were flooded; and there was no loss of life.”(Ibid) It rained continuously from six in the afternoon on the 6 up to three in the morning. Although not extensive as in 1865, the damage in 1884 was substantial. « Elle n’en causa pas moins, rien que dans les établissements de la Chaussée, des pertes évaluées à plus de Rs. 60,000. Les docks et les chantiers du port subirent aussi de graves dommages.»(3)
During the first decades of the 20th century
At the dawn of the 20th century, floods showed their ugly face again in Port Louis. « Le 8 mai 1904, à 7 heures du soir une trombe éclata sur la ville et provoqua une grave inondation: l’eau monta jusqu’à 4 pieds dans les environs de la rue du Hazard (rue Lislet Geoffroy depuis 1914) qui fut particulièrement éprouvée et jusqu’à 9 sur la Chaussée. La force des eaux fut si grande qu’elle abattit plusieurs murs solidement construits, endommagea sérieusement les ponts en ciment armé des divers ruisseaux de la ville et défonça quelques rues sur une grande étendue. Les magasins de la Chaussée, plusieurs boutiques de Chinois, les bureaux de l’Oriental Telephone Company, les docks, les hangars de la douane, les chantiers du port éprouvèrent tous de graves dommages.»(Idem)
And it was not over. “In May 1928 there was torrential rain, which caused flooding almost as heavy as that of 1904. The flood caused serious damage especially along La Poudrière Street and in the neighbourhood of the Company’s Garden.”(4) All the houses in the vicinity, occupied by poor families were destroyed. The flood went up to the ground-floor of the Institute and the unique natural history collections kept there were irremediably lost. The canals which served the town were seriously damaged and the authorities had recourse to the old canal of Pailles to compensate for the lack of water which ensued.
References
1.Barnwell, P.J. & Toussaint, A., A Short History of Mauritius, Longmans, Green & Co, 1949.
2.Moree, P.J., A Concise History of Dutch Mauritius, 1598-1710, Kegan Paul International, 1998.
3.Toussaint, Auguste, ‘Port-Louis, deux siècles d’histoire (1735-1935)’, La Typographie Moderne, 1936.
4.Toussaint, Auguste, Port-Louis, A Tropical City, Translated by W.E.F. Ward, London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1973.