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Cyclone Batsirai Destroys Homes and Knocks Out Power in Madagascar

Meanwhile, Cyclone Batsirai weakened overnight but floods were still expected due to heavy rain after it hit eastern Madagascar, the island's meteorological office said
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Cyclone Batsirai made landfall on Madagascar’s eastern coastline late on Saturday, with residents reporting strong winds, with wind speeds around 100 miles per hour, a power blackout and houses destroyed as the storm swept inland.

The cyclone, the second storm to hit the large Indian Ocean island nation in just a few weeks, was moving westwards at a rate of 19 km/h, the meteorological services said.

The Meteo-France weather service had earlier predicted Batsirai would present “a very serious threat” to Madagascar, after passing Mauritius and drenching the French island of La Reunion with torrential rain for two days.

In the hours before the cyclone hit, residents hunkered down in the impoverished country, still recovering from the deadly Tropical Storm Ana late last month.

“We are all very nervous as you can imagine,” WFP’s Pasqualina Disirio told Geneva-based journalists by video link from the capital Antananarivo. Some coastal areas have already been evacuated and schools were closed on Friday so that a portion of them can be converted into shelters, she added.

Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said he expected a “significant humanitarian impact” and said that teams were stocking up on supplies and readying aircrafts to assess future damage.

During the last storm, dozens were killed by landslides and buildings collapsed or were washed away. Batsirai is expected to bring more heavy rainfall with up to 30 centimetres forecast on Saturday, and more in mountain areas, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said just before Batsirai hits.

Meanwhile, Batsirai is currently over southern Madagascar and is expected to enter the Mozambique channel late Sunday or early Monday. The system will then head south and then south-east, without making African landfall.

 

 

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Abel Mavura is a journalist, editor, and writer whose work explores the intersections of cities, migration, and social justice. He tells stories about how people move, survive, and remake urban life under conditions of precarity, drawing on close field engagement and lived experience. Trained as a journalist at the Christian College of Southern Africa, Abel’s early work was rooted in media practice and community storytelling. Over time, his focus expanded into research and critical inquiry, allowing his writing to move fluidly between reportage, analysis, and long-form reflection. He is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris and is currently pursuing research at the University of Cambridge, where his work builds on earlier research into migration and informal housing. Abel is the author of three books, and his writing has appeared across platforms ranging from grassroots and community radio to international and policy-facing spaces. His work is grounded in clarity, ethical storytelling, and a commitment to centring voices often left out of mainstream narratives.

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