Tropical Cyclone Firinga produced record-breaking rainfall on the French overseas department of Réunion.

Firinga passed 50 km (31 mi) west of the island, producing 190 km/h (120 mph) wind gusts that destroyed 844 homes.

After passing Mauritius, Firinga struck Réunion early on January 29 with wind gusts as strong as 216 km/h (134 mph).

On January 24, both the Météo France office in Réunion (MFR)[nb 1] and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)[nb 2] began tracking a tropical disturbance in the south-west Indian Ocean, about halfway between the east coast of Madagascar and Diego Garcia;[3] the latter agency designated it as Tropical Cyclone 08S.

Two days later, the JTWC upgraded the storm to the equivalent of a minimal hurricane while Firinga was approaching Mauritius.

[5] Shortly thereafter, MFR upgraded Firinga to tropical cyclone status, estimating 10 minute maximum sustained winds[nb 3] of 135 km/h (85 mph).

It quickly crossed the island and began weakening; MFR downgraded the storm below cyclone status at 1200 UTC that day.

[5] While in the vicinity of Réunion, Firinga produced a minimum pressure of 962 mbar (28.4 inHg) at Pointe des Galets.

[8] Rainfall was lighter along the east and west coasts of the island, but highest in the central plains and in the south, where totals were 1 in 50 year events.

Due to the strong winds possibly disrupting instruments, rainfall totals may have been higher than what were recorded.

The high rainfall resulted in the Rivière Langevin to overflow its banks, causing significant flooding in Saint-Denis.

The high rainfall caused 32 landslides throughout Réunion, most of which were small; however, one in La Plaine-des-Palmistes damaged a road.

[7] High winds left 60% of the island without power,[10] mostly in the southern portion including Saint-Joseph and Cilaos.

The United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs provided $10,000 (1989 USD) to the country to purchase water tanks and saws.

In addition, 400 troops and 50 vehicles were dispatched from an insular military base in order to assist the affected populations.