As powerful Cyclone Batsirai closed in on eastern Madagascar on Saturday people sought shelter in more secure concrete buildings while others reinforced their roofs with large sandbags. Batsirai is expected to lash the eastern parts of the cyclone-prone Indian ocean island with powerful winds and torrential rains on Saturday.
The Meteo-France weather service warned of winds of up to 260 kilometres per hour and waves as high as 15 metres.
It said Batsirai would likely make landfall in the late afternoon as an intense tropical cyclone, “presenting a very serious threat to the area” after passing Mauritius and drenching the French island of La Reunion with torrential rain for two days.
Residents hunkered down before the storm made landfall in the impoverished country still recovering from the deadly Tropical Storm Ana late last month. In the eastern coastal town of Vatomandry more than 200 people were crammed in one room in a Chinese-owned concrete building while waiting for Batsirai to hit.
Families slept on mats or mattresses. Other residents of Vatomandry were stockpiling supplies in preparation for the storm. We have been stocking up for a week, rice but also grains because with the electricity cuts we can not keep meat or fish,” said Odette Nirina, 65, a hotelier in Vatomandry. I have also stocked up on coal. Here we are used to cyclones,” she told AFP.
Gusts of winds of more than 50km/h pummelled Vatomandry Saturday morning, accompanied by intermittent rain. The United Nations said it was ramping up its preparedness with aid agencies, placing rescue aircraft on standby and stockpiling humanitarian supplies
Source: eNCA
In other news – Hulisani Ravele narrates her terrifying experience
Seasoned Broadcaster Hulisani Ravele has taken to Twitter to thank her Uber Driver for saving her life. God bless my Uber driver.
she wrote as she began to narrate what happened. The TV and Radio presenter said she had a terrifying experience in Sandton. Learn more
