At least 20 people have died after a powerful cyclone hit Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island’s disaster management authority said.
The BBC writes that Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island’s main port, Toamasina.
Madagascar’s disaster management office said there was “total chaos,” reporting that houses collapsed in the impact area, where the bodies were found. Neighborhoods were left in the dark after power lines were snapped, while trees were uprooted and roofs collapsed.
According to CMRS cyclone forecasters on France’s Reunion Island, the cyclone’s impact was likely one of the strongest recorded around the city in the satellite era.
The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management said many people were killed when houses collapsed. Cyclone Gezani hit Toamasina, the country’s second largest city, with winds reaching up to 250 km/h (155 mph).
“It’s total chaos, 90% of the roofs of the houses have collapsed, completely or partially,” Rija Randrianarisoa, head of disaster management at the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger, told AFP.
Madagascar’s disaster management office has evacuated dozens of injured people and hundreds of residents from a neighborhood around Toamasina, where about 400 people live.
Residents described scenes of chaos. “I have never experienced such violent winds… The doors and windows are made of metal, but they were shaking violently,” Harimanga Ranaivo told Reuters news agency.
Gezani is the second cyclone to hit Madagascar this year. It comes 10 days after Tropical Cyclone Fytia, which killed 14 people and displaced more than 31 others, according to the UN humanitarian office.
Before the cyclone arrived, officials closed schools and rushed to prepare emergency shelters.
Madagascar’s meteorological service said on Wednesday morning that Gezani had weakened to a moderate tropical storm and was moving westward, about 100 km north of the capital Antananarivo.
“Gezani will cross the central hills from east to west today, before heading out to sea into the Mozambique Channel this evening or tonight,” the service said.
The country’s new leader, Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who took power in October, was in Toamasina on Wednesday morning to assess the situation.
The cyclone season in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar typically lasts from November to April and brings about a dozen storms each year.
