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Cyclone Gezani struck Madagascar on Tuesday, battering the country’s second-largest city, Toamasina, with winds reaching 250 kilometres (155 miles) per hour.
A resident who spoke to AFP described the destruction in stark terms, saying, “It’s monstrous. Everything is devastated, roofs have been blown off, floors are flooded, the walls of solid houses have collapsed.”
“And I’m talking about the nice neighbourhoods, with well-built houses,” the resident added, noting that electricity had been lost hours before the storm arrived.
France’s Reunion-based CMRS cyclone centre confirmed that Toamasina was “directly hit by the most intense part” of the storm. As a precaution, the government declared Wednesday a non-working day and ordered schools closed in several regions.
Although Gezani weakened to a tropical storm after moving inland, forecasters expect it to regain cyclone strength as it crosses the channel toward Mozambique.
Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who has led Madagascar since the October military coup, said he would travel to Toamasina to stand with residents during the crisis.
The CMRS noted that Gezani’s landfall could rank among the most powerful recorded in the region during the satellite era, comparable to Cyclone Geralda in February 1994, which killed at least 200 people and affected around half a million others.
