Batsirai made landfall “14 km north of the city of Mananjary, at the intense tropical cyclone stage”, with a “wind of 165 km / h” and gusts at “235 km / h”, confirmed Faly Aritiana Fabien , an official of the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management.
Some 90 minutes after Batsirai’s arrival, authorities had counted nearly 27,000 people who had left their homes, he said.
very serious threat
A little earlier, the Madagascar weather service had warned that “significant and widespread damage is […] to fear ” . Météo-France had for its part forecast several hours ago winds of up to 250 km / h and waves of 10 to 15 meters, evoking a “very serious threat”.
The inhabitants were preparing to cope with the means at their disposal on the island, one of the poorest countries in the world, already hit by tropical storm Ana in January, and swept away on Friday by the wind and continuous rain.
In the coastal town of Vatomandry (east), more than 200 people crowded into a room in a concrete building belonging to the Chinese to protect themselves from the cyclone, families sleeping on mats or mattresses. A local official, Thierry Louison Leaby, complained about the lack of drinking water, the supply having been cut off in anticipation of the storm.
Rescue teams on the alert
The impact of cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar should be “considerable”, warned Friday a spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) of the UN, Jens Laerke.
The director of the World Food Program (WFP) for Madagascar, Pasqualina Di Sirio, said she anticipated “a major crisis” on the big island, where the cyclone could affect more than 600,000 people, including 150,000 displaced.
Search and rescue teams have been placed on alert, stocks of supplies have been prepared and planes are ready to intervene in support of the humanitarian response. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) estimates that around 4.4 million people in total are at risk in one way or another.