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.

The Indian Ocean tourist meccas of Mauritius and La Reunion braced Thursday for an intense tropical storm, Cyclone Garance, which was labelled a "direct threat" to the islands. Mauritius shut its main airport the previous day, while the nearby French island of La Reunion was set to do the same on Thursday.

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

The sole airport in Mauritius is scheduled to shut down from Wednesday evening until further notice after the country’s meteorological services raised a cyclone warning to Class III for the first time in the current summer season.

Tropical cyclone Garance intensifies as it approaches Reunion Island, prompting severe weather warnings, while tropical storm Honde poses additional threats to Madagascar.