Cyclone Freddy hit the coasts of Madagascar hard, killing four people, according to the latest provisional report. The Indian Ocean island woke up on Wednesday (February 22) to extensive damage after the powerful tropical cyclone hit the previous day. A previous report reported one death.
Freddy made landfall in the east of the country in the Mananjary region on Tuesday evening around 7:20 p.m. local time (5:20 p.m. Paris time) and is continuing west. The coastal city of 25,000 was already largely destroyed in 2022 by Cyclone Batsirai, which killed more than 135 people.
The first assessment of the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC), which reports four deaths, has not, for the moment, recorded any cases of missing persons. More than 16,600 people are affected, and nearly 6,700 homes have been razed or damaged. The full extent of the damage is being assessed.
“There is mainly wind damage on landing. We are still evaluating them, Freddy is still in Madagascar,” Faly Aritiana Fabien, from the BNGRC, told AFP. Slightly weakened, the cyclone is described as "relatively dry". It brought less rain than expected, however the winds were extreme. Apart from the houses, the harvests were very shaken. The country, among the poorest in the world, already fears a shortage of rice and fruit. More than 2.3 million Malagasy (out of a population of 28 million) could be affected by this cyclone, according to the World Food Programme.
Schools and transport at a standstill
In Mananjary, at daybreak, many people went out into the street. Electric wires, heaps of sheet metal, wood debris litter the ground. Many houses are roofless, say residents, contacted by phone. However, before the storm arrived, they had ballasted the top of their house with sandbags. Accustomed to bad weather, the inhabitants of the island use this method before each new episode. But the winds were stronger.
Some pick up what's left of their house and leave with boards under their arms. They may be able to rebuild later. In the early morning, a few grocery stores reopened. Schools remained closed, as did public transport.
Freddy had previously passed off Mauritius and Reunion, causing less damage than feared because the cyclone had not made landfall. "The weakened system continues its trajectory over the lands of Madagascar", with an average wind reduced to 55 km/h and gusts to 75 km/h, according to Météo-France. The system is expected to leave Madagascar late in the day and reach Mozambique on Friday, likely as a tropical storm, with heavy rains, according to forecasts.
Madagascar has also been subjected for months to extreme drought in a vast area of the South, which is causing acute malnutrition and pockets of famine. About ten storms or cyclones cross the southwest Indian Ocean each year during the hurricane season, which runs from November to April.
