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Reuters
Reuters
Environment
Lovasoa Rabary

Cyclone kills at least 10 in Madagascar, destroying homes and cutting power

Locals stand on a damaged road following a landslide, as Cyclone Batsirai hits Madagascar, in Haute Matsiatra region, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

A cyclone killed at least 10 people in southeastern Madagascar, the second to hit the Indian Ocean island in just two weeks, triggering floods, bringing down buildings and cutting power, officials said on Sunday.

One of the worst-hit towns was Nosy Varika on the east coast where almost 95% of buildings were destroyed "as if we had just been bombed" and floods cut access, an official said.

A view of a destroyed house as Cyclone Batsirai sweeps inland, in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Cyclone Batsirai swept inland late on Saturday, slamming into the eastern coastline with heavy rain and wind speeds of 165 kph (100 mph). It was projected it could displace as many as 150,000 people.

The damage from the storm compounded the destruction wreaked by Cyclone Ana, which hit the island, with a population of nearly 30,000,000, two weeks ago, killing 55 people and displacing 130,000

Madagascar's office of disaster and risk management said in a bulletin late on Sunday 10 people had been killed. State radio said some died when their house collapsed in the town of Ambalavao, about 460 km south of the capital Antananarivo.

A local stands on mud on a damaged road following a landslide, as Cyclone Batsirai hits Madagascar, in Haute Matsiatra region, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

"We saw only desolation: uprooted trees, fallen electric poles, roofs torn off by the wind, the city completely under water," Nirina Rahaingosoa, a resident of Fianarantsoa, 420 km south of the capital, told Reuters by phone.

Electricity was knocked out in the town as poles were toppled by gusts of winds that blew all night into Sunday morning, he said.

Willy Raharijaona, technical adviser to the vice president of Madagascar's Senate, said some parts of the southeast had been cut off from the surrounding areas by flooding.

A girl holds a baby outside a damaged house in a flooded area, as Cyclone Batsirai sweeps inland, in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

"It's as if we had just been bombed. The city of Nosy Varika is almost 95% destroyed," he said. "The solid houses saw their roofs torn off by the wind. The wooden huts have for the most part been destroyed."

Another resident who gave only one name, Raharijaona, told Reuters even schools and churches that had been preparing to shelter the displaced around Mananjary in the southeast had their roofs torn off.

In the central region of Haute Matsiatra, villagers shovelled mud from a road to clear damage from a landslide caused by Batsirai.

Locals stand outside damaged houses in a flooded area, as Cyclone Batsirai sweeps inland, in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Cyclone Ana that struck the Indian Ocean Island nation on Jan. 22, leaving at least 55 dead from landslides and collapsed buildings and causing widespread flooding.

After ravaging Madagascar, Ana moved west, making landfall in Mozambique and continuing inland to Malawi. A total of 88 people were killed.

(Additional reporting by Christophe Van Der Perre and Natasa Bansagi. Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Susan Fenton, Catherine Evans and Nick Macfie)

A baby lays on blankets as locals find shelter at an evacuation centre, as Cyclone Batsirai sweeps inland, in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Cars stop before a flooded area, after Cyclone Batsirai made landfall, on a road in Vohiparara, Madagascar, February 6, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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