Report says 10 people have been killed and about 48,000 forced from their homes after Cyclone Batsirai struck Madagascar.
According to the island country’s office of disaster and risk management, the deaths in a bulletin late on Sunday while state radio said some died when their house collapsed in the town of Ambalavao, about 460 kilometres south of the capital Antananarivo.
The report also recalled that it was the second major storm to hit the poor Indian Ocean island nation in two weeks.
The cyclone made landfall in Mananjary, with winds of 165 kilometres per hour, uprooting trees, destroying buildings and forcing residents to weigh down flimsy corrugated iron roofs along its path.
Technical Adviser to the Vice President of Madagascar’s Senate, Willy Raharijaona stated that some parts of the southeast had been cut off from the surrounding areas by flooding.
The Meteo-France weather service had earlier predicted Batsirai would pose a “very serious threat” to Madagascar, after passing Mauritius and drenching the French island of La Reunion with torrential rain.
