Sharjah24 – Reuters: Cyclone Batsirai made landfall on Madagascar's eastern coastline late on Saturday, with residents reporting strong winds, a power blackout and houses destroyed as the storm swept inland.
There were fears that Batsirai could compound the devastation wreaked by another cyclone, Ana, which hit the island just two weeks ago, killing 55 people.
A local weather bulletin said the Batsirai storm system hit an area about 14 km (nine miles) north of the town of Mananjary in Madagascar's southeast at about 8 p.m. (1700 GMT).
The cyclone had average winds of about 165 km per hour, the bulletin said.
"The winds are terrible. I've never experienced this. Mananjary has never experienced such a situation. The waves are very high," Hanitra Raharisoa, a resident of Mananjary, told Reuters by phone.
Another resident who gave only one name, Raharijaona, told Reuters also by phone the storm had knocked out the area's power grid, felled trees and destroyed some homes.
In a bulletin earlier on Saturday, Madagascar's weather service had said the cyclone was expected to cross the country from east to west, "remaining generally at a dangerous stage".
The streets of the capital, Antananarivo, were quiet as many residents opted to stay indoors. Banks and some other businesses were shuttered.
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