Saint Paul is the biggest town of the west coast (103 000 inhabitants). It proposes a great variety of landscapes: the “bay of the best anchorage” shelter the city center surrounded by a black sandy beach exposed to the open sea and a pond in back-town fed by a few rills. Further south, a bioclastic sandy beach protected by a fringing reef is the most touristic place of the west coast. This sector is an old backfilled marshland sheltered by an intense urban pressure and crossed by a few rills.

This site is concerned by water streaming, river and pond overflowing and wave overtopping. Besides, the bay of Saint-Paul is not protected by the barrier reef which is situated south of the town.

 

Some historical examples (source DDRM La Réunion) :

• February 1994 – Hollanda – Savannah, Étang Saint-Paul, Grande Fontaine, l’Ermitage and the street of la Poste at Saint-Gilles are inundated

• January 2002 – Dina – inondation of houses lying the pond

• February 2007 – Gamède – cyclonic waves over 9m height.

• January 2014 – Bejisa – inundation and evacuation of the bay. Numerous damages in the port of Saint-Gilles due to the combined effects of the overflowing of the gully of Saint-Gilles and the marine storm surge.

 

             

                                   Inondation à Saint Paul lors du cyclone Bejisa (2014). Source: Zinfo974.