Slightly weakened but carried by extreme winds, Tropical Cyclone Freddy is advancing at high speed towards Madagascar, where it is forecast to hit the east coast on Tuesday evening.
Freddy, who was around 500 kilometers from the large island in the Indian Ocean at noon, was expected there with “devastating winds” and “a very dangerous swell”, warned Météo-France, which feared destruction within a radius of 100 kilometers.
More than 2.3 million Malagasy, out of a total of around 28 million, could be affected by this new cyclone, according to the World Food Program (WFP).
The cyclone was expected to make landfall north of Mananjary (east), a coastal town of 25,000 that was largely devastated last year by Cyclone Batsirai, which killed more than 130 residents in this country, which is one of the belongs to the poorest on earth.
In Mananjary, already existing rain and wind herald the imminent arrival of the storm. Sandbags have been placed on most houses to weigh down the roofs, and SUVs drive through the streets equipped with loudspeakers reminding people of the safety instructions, residents who can be reached by phone say.
Mothers holding their little ones have begun attending the schools that have been confiscated as emergency shelters.
In the capital Antananarivo, more than 500km from the expected impact zone, the airport remained open Tuesday morning but flights to the east coast were cancelled, AFP noted.
8 meter waves
Many storms or cyclones cross the southwestern Indian Ocean between November and April each year.
Freddy happened on Monday night off La Réunion, which meteorologists say escaped “the worst conditions associated with the eye” of the cyclone, which stayed 190km from the north of the French island.
The prefecture lifted the hurricane arm as of 4am GMT and the airport, which had been closed since Monday afternoon, was due to reopen in the morning.
The island was hit by strong winds and the sea there became dangerous with eight-meter waves, but “there are no fatalities or injuries,” according to the prefecture, which has yet to compile the material balance sheet.
The bad weather caused power outages, which still affected 9,000 homes as of Tuesday morning, and caused pumping stations to shut down, leaving 500 homes without drinking water.
The cyclone swept through Mauritius earlier on Monday, staying 120km north of the coast but still causing gusts of wind across the archipelago, where the airport and shops, banks and petrol stations were closed.
Last month, Madagascar was hit by a violent tropical storm. Heavy rains caused flooding, killing at least 33 people.
After crossing Madagascar, Freddy is expected to depart Friday through the Mozambique Channel, hitting Mozambique as a severe tropical storm with winds up to 120 km/h and heavy rains, forecasts say.