by Lovasoa Rabary
ANTANANARIVO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Cyclone Batsirai killed at least 10 people in Madagascar, where the storm caused collapsed homes, power cuts and flooding.
After skimming the island of Reunion, Batsirai fell Saturday evening on the east coast of Madagascar with heavy rains and winds blowing up to 165 km / h.
One of the hardest hit localities was Nosy Varika, on the coast, where most of the buildings were destroyed. The city is also cut off from the rest of the country due to flooding, a local official said on Sunday.
The Malagasy disaster and risk management office reported 10 deaths on Sunday evening. According to public radio, people were killed when their Ambalavao home collapsed, nearly 500 km south of the capital Antananarivo.
“We only see desolation: uprooted trees, downed electricity poles, roofs blown away, the city completely under water,” said Nirina Rahaingosoa, a resident of Fianarantsoa 420 km south of Antananarivo. , reached by telephone by Reuters.
Electricity was cut in the city, where the poles were knocked down by gusts of wind which blew all night until Sunday morning, he added.
In the central region of Haute Matsiatra, villagers cleared an obstructed road with shovels following a landslide caused by the storm.
The island of Madagascar was hit just two weeks ago by another cyclone, Ana, which killed 55 people.
After Madagascar, Ana moved west, hitting Mozambique, all the way to Malawi. A total of 88 people were killed. (with Christophe Van Der Perre and Natasa Bansagi, written by Elias Biryabarema, French version Bertrand Boucey and Elizabeth Pineau)