Madagascar reels as another cyclone batters southern parts

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Cyclone Emnati lashed parts of Madagascar on Wednesday morning, sparking fears of more flooding and devastation in a country still reeling from the effects of another tropical storm earlier this month.

Winds of up to 135 kilometers per hour (84 mph) battered areas in the south and southeast of the island nation, according to Madagascar’s meteorology department.

There have been no reports of casualties yet as authorities had rushed to evacuate more than 30,000 from Emnati’s projected path.

However, local media reports said heavy rainfall and rising sea levels caused flooding and infrastructural damage in several towns, with power and communication networks disrupted.

Emnati made landfall with full ferocity around midnight in the Manakara Atsimo district, but wind speeds dropped a little to around 100 kph (62 mph) by the morning, according to the met department.

The storm is expected to sweep southeastern parts of Madagascar before exiting out to sea again, the department said.

Madagascar is still recovering from Cyclone Batsirai that hit on Feb. 5, killing at least 124 people, displacing some 30,000 and damaging nearly 125,000 houses.

At least 270,900 people were directly affected by Batsirai, which was the third extreme weather event of the deadly cyclone season, according to the UN.

“In January, the weather system that formed Tropical Storm Ana hit central Madagascar, including the capital, Antananarivo, killing 50 people and causing heavy floods in densely populated areas … Just a week after Batsirai, Tropical Storm Dumako battered Madagascar’s northeast coast, killing several people and destroying hundreds of classrooms,” the UN humanitarian office said in a report last week.

It said Emnati is Madagascar’s “fifth extreme weather event in 2022.”

“We are in a race against time to protect those who dealt with the fury of the first three extreme weather events from the impact of Emnati,” Jens Laerke, a UNOCHA spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday.​​​​​​​