Six persons have been confirmed dead following violent winds of more than 165km per hour of Cyclone Batsirai slammed Madagascar’s eastern coastline accompanied by heavy rains.
Intense tropical Cyclone Batsirai struck Madagascar’s eastern region on Saturday with strong winds and heavy rain, the second storm to hit the island nation in just a few weeks displacing over 100,000 people.
Six people had been killed in the town of Ambalavao, about 460 km south of the capital Antananarivo.
“I confirm that Batsirai hit Mananjary at about 8pm (17:00 GMT) local time,” meteorologist Lovandrainy Ratovoharisoa said while addressing newsmen, but gave no further details. Also hit were Nosy Varika, Manakara and Mahanoro.
The destruction from the storm is compounding the destruction wreaked by another cyclone, Ana, which hit the island just two weeks ago, killing 55 people and displacing 130,000 others.
Elsewhere in the central Madagascar region of Haute Matsiatra, residents shovelled mud from a road on Sunday to clear debris from a landslide caused by Batsirai.
Residents hunkered down before the storm’s arrival and winds of more than 200km per hour were forecast as it tore through the country still smattering from the deadly Tropical Storm Ana in late January.
After ravaging Madagascar, Ana moved west, making landfall in Mozambique and continuing inland to Malawi. A total of 88 people died, including those in Madagascar.
