Cyclone Freddy hits Madagascar, four killed

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Post created on 11:01 am

 

Powerful tropical Cyclone Freddy tore through parts of Madagascar on Wednesday, killing four people on the Indian Ocean island, disaster management authorities said.

A 27-year-old man drowned in rising sea waters on Tuesday just before the storm, which packed winds of around 130 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour), made landfall.

But on Wednesday authorities put the toll at four.

The storm has affected 16,600 people, according to the country’s National Risk Management Office (BNGRC).

It brought less rains than feared, but strong winds ripped roofs off buildings and flattened rice fields and fruit trees.

By daybreak in Mananjary residents were out on the streets to assess the damage and salvage what they could, witnesses said.

Despite thousands of sandbags used to reinforce roofs, metal sheets were strewn onto the ground by the force of the wind.

The 27-year-old man drowned near the port of Mahanoro, to the north of Mananjary, said the BNGRC.

Fabien said Freddy was “one of the strongest cyclones” to hit the island, which is typically lashed several times during the annual November-April storm season.

Pascal Salle, from Mananjary, sobbed as he assessed the damage after hardly recovering from last year’s cyclone Batsirai.

“I didn’t think there was a more powerful cyclone than Batsirai,” he said. “My fence is down, my 1,000-litre plastic water tank smashed against the neighbour’s wall”.

A window was ripped off his house and the garden transformed into “a sandy field”, he said.

“I can’t take this every year, it’s not possible,” he said.

[AFP]