The Fort Worth Press - Cyclone Batsirai closes in on eastern Madagascar

USD -
AED 3.67302
AFN 70.177799
ALL 94.694858
AMD 399.571201
ANG 1.800481
AOA 912.000034
ARS 1027.729361
AUD 1.603355
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.697676
BAM 1.879673
BBD 2.017107
BDT 119.384911
BGN 1.881012
BHD 0.376934
BIF 2953.447033
BMD 1
BND 1.357194
BOB 6.903412
BRL 6.21685
BSD 0.999039
BTN 85.070401
BWP 13.87506
BYN 3.26939
BYR 19600
BZD 2.010284
CAD 1.43675
CDF 2870.000189
CHF 0.90009
CLF 0.03586
CLP 989.480209
CNY 7.298801
CNH 7.306215
COP 4373.91
CRC 507.256127
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 106.009258
CZK 24.10875
DJF 177.904853
DKK 7.171097
DOP 60.855358
DZD 135.127343
EGP 50.858598
ERN 15
ETB 127.201346
EUR 0.96095
FJD 2.31865
FKP 0.791982
GBP 0.797448
GEL 2.810197
GGP 0.791982
GHS 14.690824
GIP 0.791982
GMD 71.999964
GNF 8634.310428
GTQ 7.698187
GYD 209.014897
HKD 7.76805
HNL 25.382989
HRK 7.172906
HTG 130.598126
HUF 395.534005
IDR 16213
ILS 3.64741
IMP 0.791982
INR 85.38525
IQD 1308.697741
IRR 42087.498013
ISK 139.549837
JEP 0.791982
JMD 155.655935
JOD 0.709299
JPY 157.086031
KES 129.119811
KGS 86.99942
KHR 4014.412683
KMF 466.124975
KPW 899.999441
KRW 1457.470401
KWD 0.30818
KYD 0.83258
KZT 517.549255
LAK 21848.149928
LBP 89462.854397
LKR 294.435368
LRD 181.893348
LSL 18.576261
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.604891
LYD 4.904373
MAD 10.074676
MDL 18.432484
MGA 4712.157617
MKD 59.135031
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.99987
MOP 7.992119
MRU 39.880827
MUR 47.070154
MVR 15.402589
MWK 1732.340221
MXN 20.164402
MYR 4.487015
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.576261
NGN 1541.640096
NIO 36.761173
NOK 11.628915
NPR 136.06247
NZD 1.771166
OMR 0.384748
PAB 0.999039
PEN 3.720135
PGK 4.054781
PHP 58.591972
PKR 278.129073
PLN 4.094575
PYG 7791.44642
QAR 3.634825
RON 4.784295
RSD 112.416046
RUB 99.929361
RWF 1393.656896
SAR 3.75514
SBD 8.383555
SCR 14.26593
SDG 601.501981
SEK 11.078902
SGD 1.3585
SHP 0.791982
SLE 22.8039
SLL 20969.503029
SOS 570.975493
SRD 35.057966
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.741951
SYP 2512.530243
SZL 18.584334
THB 34.159588
TJS 10.933512
TMT 3.51
TND 3.186697
TOP 2.342101
TRY 35.177625
TTD 6.789044
TWD 32.699497
TZS 2419.99986
UAH 41.889284
UGX 3656.895723
UYU 44.484182
UZS 12897.645363
VES 51.575121
VND 25425
VUV 118.722003
WST 2.762788
XAF 630.424796
XAG 0.033795
XAU 0.000382
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.765978
XOF 630.424796
XPF 114.617972
YER 250.375036
ZAR 18.612085
ZMK 9001.2026
ZMW 27.648246
ZWL 321.999592
  • RIO

    -0.0300

    59.2

    -0.05%

  • BCC

    0.9500

    123.19

    +0.77%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    58.86

    -0.27%

  • AZN

    -0.3300

    66.3

    -0.5%

  • GSK

    -0.0300

    34.03

    -0.09%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    36.26

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    59.8000

    59.8

    +100%

  • SCS

    0.0800

    11.73

    +0.68%

  • BP

    0.0400

    28.79

    +0.14%

  • CMSD

    0.1000

    23.65

    +0.42%

  • CMSC

    -0.1321

    23.77

    -0.56%

  • BCE

    0.0600

    22.9

    +0.26%

  • RELX

    0.3000

    45.89

    +0.65%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.24

    -0.14%

  • VOD

    0.0600

    8.43

    +0.71%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    12.15

    +0.41%

Cyclone Batsirai closes in on eastern Madagascar
Cyclone Batsirai closes in on eastern Madagascar

Cyclone Batsirai closes in on eastern Madagascar

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.

Text size:

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 (162 miles per hour) and waves as high as 15 metres (50 feet).

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.

Community leader Thierry Louison Leaby lamented the lack of clean water after the water utility company turned off supplies ahead of the cyclone.

"People are cooking with dirty water," he said, amid fears of a diarrhoea outbreak.

Outside plastic dishes and buckets were placed in a line to catch rainwater dripping from the corrugated roofing sheets.

"The government must absolutely help us. We have not been given anything," he said.

Residents who chose to remain in their homes used sandbags to buttress their roofs.

- 'We are very nervous' -

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.

The impact of Batsirai on Madagascar is expected to be "considerable", Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN's humanitarian organisation OCHA, told reporters in Geneva Friday.

At least 131,000 people were affected by Ana across Madagascar in late January. At least 58 people were killed, mostly in the capital Antananarivo. The storm also hit Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, causing dozens of deaths.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) pointed to estimates from national authorities that some 595,000 people could risk being directly affected by Batsirai, and 150,000 more might be displaced due to new landslides and flooding.

"We are very nervous," Pasqualina Di Sirio, who heads the WFP's programme in Madagascar, told reporters by video-link from the island.

Search and rescue teams have been placed on alert.

Inland in Ampasipotsy Gare, sitting on top of his house, Tsarafidy Ben Ali, a 23-year-old coal seller, held down corrugated iron sheets on the roof with large bags filled with soil.

"The gusts of wind are going to be very strong. That's why we're reinforcing the roofs," he told AFP.

burs-str-sn/dl

D.Ford--TFWP