20 killed as powerful cyclone batters Madagascar
AFP/APP
Madagascar: A powerful cyclone packing violent winds killed at least 20 people after striking Madagascar, toppling houses and triggering major flooding, the country’s disaster management authority said Wednesday.
Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, slamming into the country’s second-largest city, Toamasina, with winds reaching 250 kilometres (155 miles) per hour.
The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNRGC) said 20 deaths had been recorded, many caused by collapsing houses. Fifteen people were reported missing and at least 33 others injured, according to updated figures.
Drone footage shared by the BNRGC on social media showed extensive flooding in the east coast city of 400,000 people, located about 220 kilometres northeast of the capital, Antananarivo. Roofs were ripped off buildings and trees uprooted.
Authorities said there had been massive damage in the Atsinanana region surrounding Toamasina, adding that post-disaster assessments were still under way.
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“It’s total chaos: 90 percent of house roofs have been blown off, entirely or in part,” said Rija Randrianarisoa, head of disaster management at the Action Against Hunger humanitarian group.
“The roads are completely inaccessible because of trees on the ground and sheet metal,” he told AFP.
Although the cyclone weakened after landfall, it continued sweeping across the island, posing ongoing flooding risks.
A Toamasina resident told AFP by telephone late Tuesday that the winds had even collapsed solid walls. “It’s monstrous,” the resident said.
Madagascar’s new leader, Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, was in the city on Wednesday to assess the situation.
The CMRS cyclone forecasting centre on France’s Reunion island confirmed that Toamasina had been “directly hit by the most intense part” of the storm.
It said the cyclone’s landfall was likely among the most intense recorded in the region during the satellite era, rivalling Cyclone Geralda in February 1994, which left at least 200 people dead and affected half a million others.
Cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean typically runs from November to April, with around a dozen storms forming each year.
