NOS News•today, 5:45 PM
At least twelve people have died in Madagascar as a result of the cyclone Gamane, which passed over the East African island last 24 hours. At least 21,000 residents have been affected by the destruction caused by the cyclone, the national disaster agency reports.
The storm passed over the island state with an average wind speed of 150 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 210 kilometers per hour. Heavy rainfall also caused hundreds of houses and roads to be flooded, especially in the north of the country. The fatalities are said to have drowned or been hit by falling trees or collapsing houses.
Aerial footage of an entire city underwater in Madagascar
Many villages are cut off from the rest of the country by floods and inaccessible to emergency workers, the national emergency service reports. The number of victims could therefore still rise.
‘Cyclone almost stood still’
Madagascar is hit more often by tropical storms. A year ago, Tropical Storm Freddy claimed more than 500 lives on the island and in nearby Mozambique and Malawi on the mainland.
What is striking about Gamane, a coordinator of the national emergency service reported to the AFP news agency, is that the storm moved very slowly over the island. “The cyclone was almost stationary. If a storm lingers in one place like this, almost all infrastructure is destroyed serious consequences for the population.”
Earlier this week it was expected that the storm would not make landfall at all.
Tags: dead Madagascar due cyclone Gamane
