Precipitation peaks are expected in the coming days. According to experts, customary weather events are intensified by climate change.
Le Monde with AFP
At least ten people died after Diluvian rains in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, where more than 500 people have no roof, announced, Tuesday, January 18, the Malagasy authorities.
Most victims have been trapped for landslides or collapsed homes, particularly in the districts of the suburbs of Antananarivo, which has nearly 1.3 million inhabitants.
More than 100 mm water fell in the night from Monday to Tuesday. And “the worst is coming in the next twenty-four hours,” warned the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior Risk and Disaster Management Office, Sonia Ray. “The precipitation will continue throughout the month of January,” she added.
According to forecasts, the Indian Ocean Island will be struck by heavy rainfall in the coming days, with an even higher peak Thursday. “We anticipate a cyclone on the weekend on the east coast,” said AFP Lovandrainy Ratovoharisoa, forecasser to the General Branch of the weather.
Every year, the country with tropical climate faces a period of intense and often non-murderer rains. In January 2020, heavy rainfall had made 32 dead and thousands of affected.
Images of many Malagasy in the streets, with muddy water to the thighs, were shared on social networks. Some remained perched on walls. Others were advancing, a child on the back and bags on the belly. Other photos show people tempting, with simple seals, fight against the rise of waters in their house.
“Imminent danger”
In the afternoon, the rain continued to fall on the capital. The low sky was from time to time torn by violent thunderclap. Precipitation has concentrated so far on the northern half of the island.
Twenty municipalities around the capital were placed in red vigilance against a “imminent danger”.
Firefighters and civil protection are mobilized to evacuate areas at risk. Gymnasiums have been requisitioned and the government is studying the opportunity to close schools this week.
“The floods are common in Madagascar, especially in the rainy season between October and April. But yesterday they were exceptionally abundant,” explained M me Ratrovoharisoa.
Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, also regularly undergoes cyclones and other tropical storms.
In 2018, the AVA cyclone had made 51 dead and 22 missing. Two months later, the tropical storm Eliakim killed 20 people and left nearly 19,000 affected.
The island is struck by strong heat or floods, extreme weather events intensified by climate change, according to experts.
End 2021, the southern part of Madagascar was struck by a severe drought which precipitated more than one million people in acute malnutrition, with pockets of famine.