{"id":114979,"date":"2026-02-11T21:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114979"},"modified":"2026-02-11T21:48:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:48:00","slug":"powerful-cyclone-kills-at-least-31-as-it-tears-through-madagascar-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114979","title":{"rendered":"Powerful cyclone kills at least 31 as it tears through Madagascar port"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least 31 people have died after a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar, says the disaster authority in the Indian Ocean island.<\/p>\n

Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island\u2019s main port, Toamasina. Madagascar\u2019s disaster management office said there was \u201ctotal chaos\u201d \u2013 reporting that houses collapsed in the impact zone, where the bodies were found.<\/p>\n

Neighbourhoods were plunged into darkness as power lines snapped, while trees were uprooted and roofs ripped off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened is a disaster, nearly 75% of the city of Toamasina was destroyed,\u201d the country\u2019s military leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, told the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current situation exceeds Madagascar\u2019s capabilities alone,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The cyclone\u2019s landfall is likely to have been one of the most intense recorded around the city in the satellite era, according to the CMRS cyclone forecaster on France\u2019s Reunion island, AFP reports.<\/p>\n

The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management said many were killed when houses collapsed. Cyclone Gezani hit Toamasina \u2013 the country\u2019s second-largest city \u2013 with winds reaching 250 km\/hour (155 mph).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s total chaos, 90% of house roofs have been blown off, entirely or in part,\u201d the head of disaster management at the Action Against Hunger aid agency, Rija Randrianarisoa, told AFP.<\/p>\n

Madagascar\u2019s disaster management office has evacuated dozens of injured people and hundreds of residents from a district around Toamasina, home to 400,000 people.<\/p>\n

Residents in and around Toamasina described scenes of chaos as the cyclone made landfall. \u201cI have never experienced winds this violent\u2026 The doors and windows are made of metal, but they are being violently shaken,\u201d Harimanga Ranaivo told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

Many parts of Toamasina have been devastated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Some boats were left grounded after the storm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Trees were uprooted and some districts left without power<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gezani is the second cyclone to hit Madagascar this year. It comes 10 days after tropical cyclone Fytia killed 14 and displaced over 31,000 people, according to the UN\u2019s humanitarian office.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the cyclone\u2019s arrival, officials shuttered schools and rushed to prepare emergency shelters.<\/p>\n

Madagascar\u2019s meteorological service said on Wednesday morning that Gezani had weakened to a moderate tropical storm and had moved westward inland, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital, Antananarivo.<\/p>\n

\u201cGezani will cross the central highlands from east to west today, before moving out to sea into the Mozambique Channel this evening or tonight,\u201d the service said.<\/p>\n

Cyclone season in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar normally lasts from November to April and sees around a dozen storms each year, AFP reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At least 31 people have died after a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar, says the disaster authority in the Indian Ocean island. Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island\u2019s main port, Toamasina. Madagascar\u2019s disaster management office said there was \u201ctotal chaos\u201d \u2013 reporting that houses collapsed in the impact zone, where the bodies were [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,16758,2019,7374,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-cyclone","category-hp-news-10","category-madagascar","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}