Cyclone Fytia hit Madagascar at the weekend, flooding large parts of the northwest of the main island and leaving three people dead, while impacting nearly 30,000 others.
Fytia made landfall near Maunga in the northwest of the country, as a tropical cyclone, with wind gusts of up to 210 km/h.
According to a provisional report from the National Bureau for Disaster Risk Management (BNGRC), three people were killed, including one in the capital, capital Antananarivo, after his house collapsed.
Another person remains missing after being swept away by the Mahamavo River in the municipality of Ambalakida.
At least five people were injured, and a total of 28,368 people have been affected by the storm, including over 8,000 who have been displaced as flooding damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 homes.
Some neighbourhoods of Antananarivo were flooded after heavy rain fell throughout the night. The BNGRC said it would deploy pumps to remove standing water, though the city’s ageing drainage system is under strain with the amount of water.
Authorities have warned of a high risk of flooding due to a weakened dyke on the Sisaony river in the plains around the capital, which has been weakened by high amounts of rainfall in recent weeks.
Water levels in the Sisaony rose rapidly Sunday, and were expected to continue rising throughout Monday.
Last week, heavy rainfall caused a dam near the capital to partially collapse, flooding large amounts of farmland.
Fytia, which was downgraded to a moderate tropical storm as it moved back to sea on Sunday morning, is expected to pass between 200 and 300 km southwest of France’s Réunion island between Monday and Tuesday.
Météo-France La Réunion warned of wind gusts of up to 80 km/h, heavy rainfall and ocean swells of 2.5 to 3 metres.
