‘Monstrous’: Cyclone Gezani hits Madagascar, leaving at least 31 dead

At least 31 people have been killed as Cyclone Gezani left a trail of destruction in Madagascar.

Authorities issued red alerts for several regions warning of possible floods and landslides as the storm made landfall late Tuesday with wind speeds of more than 195km/h (121 mph). It then roared across the large island of 31 million people, many of whom live in poverty and have inadequate shelter from storms.

The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management said building collapses caused some of the at least 31 deaths, and at least 36 other people were seriously injured as Gezani made landfall in the eastern city of Toamasina. The agency said four people were missing and more than 6,000 people were displaced from their homes.

Madagascar is especially vulnerable to cyclones blowing in off the Indian Ocean and was battered by another deadly cyclone less than two weeks ago.

“It’s monstrous. Everything is devastated, roofs have been blown off, floors are flooded, the walls of solid houses have collapsed,” a resident of Toamasina, which has a population of 400,000 people, told the AFP news agency by telephone when communications briefly returned.

“And I’m talking about the nice neighbourhoods, with well-built houses,” said the resident, who had been left without electricity since the afternoon, five hours before the cyclone hit.

Colonel Michael Randrianirina, in power in Madagascar since an October military coup, visited Toamasina to survey damage and meet residents, according to videos posted on the Facebook page of the president’s office.

The videos showed flooded neighbourhoods, homes and shops with windows blown out and roofs blown off, and trees and other debris strewn across streets.

Randrianirina’s office said about 75 percent of the city’s infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed.

The CMRS cyclone forecaster on France’s Reunion Island confirmed that the Toamasina port had been “directly hit by the most intense part” of Gezani.

Gezani made landfall on Tuesday night, less than two weeks after Tropical Cyclone Fytia hit northwestern Madagascar on January 31, killing at least 12 people and displacing 31,000, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA.

According to the CMRS, the cyclone’s landfall was likely one of the most intense recorded in the region during the satellite era, rivalling Cyclone Geralda in February 1994. That storm killed at least 200 people and affected half a million more.

Gezani on Wednesday moved west across Madagascar, weakening to a tropical storm as it moved inland, according to the national weather service. The storm passed about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the capital, Antananarivo, one of the regions under a red alert warning for possible flooding.

Forecasts showed Gezani was expected to move into the channel between Madagascar and Africa’s east coast on Thursday, and warned it might strengthen into a tropical cyclone again and turn back towards Madagascar’s southwest coast next week.

Authorities in Mozambique, where devastating floods last month impacted more than 700,000 people, also issued weather alerts and warned that three of its coastal provinces on the Indian Ocean could feel the effects of Gezani if it strengthens again.

Climate change is expected to make tropical storms more intense, with island nations particularly at risk due to rising sea levels, as well as warming oceans, causing heavier rains.