Freddy landed in the east of the country in the Mananjary region around 16:30 GMT on Tuesday evening and is continuing on its way west. The coastal town of 25,000 people was largely destroyed by Cyclone Batsirai last year, which killed more than 135 people.
According to an initial assessment by the National Agency for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC), which has not yet registered a missing person, four people died on Freddy’s crossing. Over 16,600 people have been affected, over 6,750 homes have been destroyed or damaged and the full extent of the damage is being determined.
“There is mainly wind damage on landing. We are still evaluating them, Freddy is still in Madagascar,” explained BNGRC’s Faly Aritiana Fabien. The cyclone arrived slightly weakened and is described as “relatively dry”. It rained less than expected, but the wind was extreme.
“I can’t take this every year”
The houses, the crops were very shaken. The country, which is among the poorest in the world, already fears shortages of rice and fruit.
In Mananjary, many people took to the streets at daybreak. Power cables, heaps of tin, wood waste lie on the floor. Many houses have no roof, say residents contacted by phone. But before the storm came, they weighed down the roof of their house with sandbags. Accustomed to bad weather, the islanders use this method before each new episode. But this time the wind was stronger.
Some grocery stores reopened early in the morning. Schools remained closed, as did public transport. With a lump in his throat, Pascal Sallé tells us on the phone that he has lost everything. He had moved into a small house with his wife in Mananjary a few months ago. The palisade is on the ground, the water tank is smashed. “At the worst moment of the cyclone, one of the aluminum windows was unsealed. The garden is destroyed,” he says discouraged and admits: “I can’t bear it every year, it’s not possible: Batsirai and Emnati 2022, Freddy 2023, and who’s to say that in 15 days another one won’t fall to us? “.