Cyclone batsirai strikes Madagascar Authorities fear significant and widespread damages'

Cyclone batsirai strikes Madagascar Authorities fear significant and widespread damages’. 

Antananarivo: The full force of Cyclone batsirai hit Madagascar’s eastern coast with violent rain and winds.

The central part of the tropical storm made landfall close to Mananjary on the island’s east coast and then moved to the inland part of the island.

According to the department responsible for meteorology on the island, the cyclone grew stronger as it moved over the Indian Ocean, with gale-force winds reaching speeds of 235 km (145 miles) per hour.

Batista, which translates to help from the Shona language, is classified as a risky storm. 

Also, the officials have warned that it could cause “significant and extensive destruction, including flooding in the southeast, the east, and the central highlands,” stated the department in an announcement.

As a precaution, 22,000 people have been moved to gymnasiums, churches, or schools, particularly in the vicinity of Mananjary on the east coast.

“The winds are getting more powerful, and there is plenty of rain. The sea is rough. There are huge waves that are crashing down with great strength,” Capt. Ravahalahy Heninjoa, commander of Mananjary’s gendarmerie, said Saturday.

He added that the storms have ripped down numerous trees and cut power since Friday night.

Further, in the inland region, Antananarivo, the capital, was hit by rains before the storm, and residents placed sandbags on their roofs to shield them from the wind.

In anticipation of widespread destruction, all shipping by land and sea halted Madagascar, the fourth-largest island.

“Almost all regions on the island are in danger,” the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management stated in a statement, warning that the storm could threaten more than 600,000 people of million inhabitants.