At least 10 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 displaced after Cyclone Batsirai brought strong winds and rain to Madagascar on Saturday evening.
Batsirai – the second major storm in two weeks – made landfall on the east coast, with gusts of 235km/h (146mph) and high waves hitting coastal areas.
Whole villages are reported to be almost completely destroyed.
The cyclone has now weakened, according to the national weather service.
Madagascar was already reeling from Tropical Storm Ana, which killed 55 people when it hit the Indian Ocean island nation last month.
Cyclone Batsirai has compounded the destruction, making landfall near the south-eastern city of Mananjary, 530km from the capital Antananarivo, at around 20:00 (17:00 GMT) on Saturday.
Environment Minister Vahinala Raharinirina told the BBC that many villages were nearly completely gone, with some being swept away by the storm.
Around 48,000 people have been displaced, according to the disaster management agency, although the UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that as many as 150,000 people could be forced to leave their homes.
“The people of Southern Africa have been on the front lines of climate extremes for many years now and each passing storm sets them back, resetting the progress made,” said senior WFP official Margaret Malu.
Experts say that extreme weather events like cyclones will become more frequent because of climate change.
Madagascar is also just recovering from the effects of a drought, which was also blamed on global warming.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60264389