At least four people have died in Madagascar after tropical Cyclone Freddy hit the island’s east coast, causing heavy rain and powerful winds that tore roofs off houses and triggered a storm surge. The tropical cyclone Freddy made landfall on Tuesday, weeks after another tropical storm killed 33 people and left thousands without shelter. Schools were shut and traffic was suspended in ten regions. Cyclone Freddy caused damage in Mauritius, flooding beachside hotels.
The head of Madagascar’s National Office of Risk and Disaster Management, Elack Olivier Andrikaja, told the BBC that “negligence” was to blame for the deaths. “Despite the awareness that we spread, people still dare to ignore the instructions and the warnings,” he said, adding that three of the deaths happened when a home collapsed. The Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar is particularly vulnerable to cyclones, with an average of 1.5 cyclones hitting the country every year, the highest rate in Africa, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Impacts of tropical cyclone Freddy
Cyclone Freddy slightly weakened once it made landfall on Madagascar, with wind gusts exceeding 130km/h (81mph). The country’s meteorological service warned that torrential rains would continue along its path. “The sea remains very rough… and a significant risk of coastal flooding will continue overnight,” it said. A 27-year-old man drowned near the port of Mahanoro before the storm made landfall, officials said.
Officials said that 7,000 people had been pre-emptively evacuated from the coastal region directly in Freddy’s path, and warnings that waves could reach over 8m (26ft) were issued by the International Federation of Red Cross. Some people used sandbags to weigh down their roofs as a precaution, but that didn’t stop the storm from ripping roofs off houses.
Last month, the powerful storm Cheneso smashed into north-eastern Madagascar, bringing heavy winds and triggering downpours that caused extensive flooding, killing at least 33 people and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes. Mananjary is still recovering from the devastation caused by last year’s Cyclone Batsirai, which killed more than 130 people across Madagascar.
Cyclone Freddy is forecast to cross the ocean from Madagascar and make landfall in Mozambique, before potentially moving further inland to hit Zimbabwe, UN officials say. The body estimates that more than two million people could be affected.
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