At least 11 people are thought to have died after Madagascar was hit by Cyclone Ivan, a senior humanitarian official said on Monday, and the storm is also threatening Mozambique.
Ivan, one of the largest cyclones ever to hit Madagascar, was packing winds of more than 200km/h when it hit the Indian Ocean island’s east coast, causing the collapse of a hotel where nine people were sheltering.
”One of the victims called her father in Antananarivo on Sunday at 8.30 [5.30am GMT]. Since then we have heard nothing,” Jean Rakotomalala, executive secretary of the National Office of Disasters and Risk Management, told journalists.
His office later confirmed two more deaths in another district.
Rakotomalala said he had been unable to contact eight eastern districts, while strong rain hit the entire country, prompting fears of flooding also in the capital, Antananarivo.
”Cyclone Ivan is one of the strongest storms to have hit the Big Island,” he said.
Last year, six cyclones killed 150 people on Madagascar, destroying homes and crops in the island’s worst season on record.
The world’s fourth largest island is prone to frequent cyclones and tropical storms. This season’s first cyclone, Cyclone Fame, killed at least 13 people.
Madagascar is the world’s largest producer of vanilla and 85% of its population were living on less than $2 per day in 2005, according to official data.
Mozambique’s National Meteorological Institute (Inam) said Ivan, a category-four storm, had strengthened over the Indian Ocean and was likely to cause damage when it reached the coast.
”We are monitoring the situation very closely before we issue an alert,” Inam said in a statement.
Inam said Ivan had gathered winds of up to 150km/h and could strengthen further.
Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi have been lashed by heavy rain for weeks, causing rivers to burst their banks and forcing thousands of villagers to flee flooded homes.
Mozambique’s worst disaster in recent memory occurred in 2000 and 2001 when a series of cyclones worsened widespread flooding in southern and central parts of the country, killing 700 people and driving close to half a million from their homes. – Reuters