More than 2.3 million Malagasy (out of a population of 28 million) could be affected by this cyclone, according to the World Food Program.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
The tropical cyclone Freddy, slightly weakened but carried by extreme winds, advances quickly to Madagascar from which he should strike the east coast in the evening of Tuesday, February 21. Freddy, who was midday 500 kilometers from the Big Indian Ocean Island, is expected with “devastating winds” and “a very dangerous sea state”, warned Météo-France, who dread destruction within a radius of 100 kilometers. More than 2.3 million Malagasy (out of a population of 28 million) could be affected by this cyclone, according to the global food program.
Freddy must touch the island north of Mananjary (east), coastal city of 25,000 inhabitants already widely destroyed last year by cyclone Batsirai, responsible for the death of more than 130habitants, in this country which is among The poorest on the planet. In Mananjary, sandbags have been placed on most houses to make the roofs and all-terrain vehicles roam the streets, equipped with speakers recalling the safety instructions, according to residents attached to the phone. Mothers, their young in hand, began to head to the requisitioned schools to serve as emergency accommodation centers.
No injuries in Reunion
In the capital Antananarivo, more than 500 kilometers from the expected impact zone, the airport remained open on Tuesday morning but flights to the East Coast were canceled, noted the France-Presse agency.
Freddy spent on the night of Monday to Tuesday off the Reunion, which “escaped the most degraded conditions associated with the eye” of the cyclone, which remained 190 kilometers from the north of the French island, according to Meteorologists. The prefecture raised the cyclonic alert in the early morning and the airport, closed since Monday afternoon, was to reopen in the morning. The island was affected by strong winds and the sea has become dangerous with waves reaching 8 meters high, but “no death or injured is to be deplored”, according to the prefecture, which still has to draw up the material . The bad weather caused power cuts which still affected 9,000 households on Tuesday morning and led to stopping pumping stations, depriving 500 households of drinking water.
The cyclone had previously swept Maurice on Monday, remaining 120 kilometers north of the coast but still causing gusts on the archipelago, where the airport and shops, banks and petrol stations were closed. After having crossed Madagascar, Freddy should come out through the Mozambique Canal and fall on Mozambique Friday at the Stade de truste tropical severe with winds reaching 120 km/h and heavy rains, according to forecasts.