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Cyclone Ana kills 34 people in Madagascar, 2 in Mozambique

Wednesday January 26 2022
Flooded neighbourhood in Madagascar.

People walk through flood water after several houses were affected by rising water following heavy rains in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on January 24, 2022. PHOTO | AFP

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

A tropical cyclone has killed 34 people in Madagascar and two in Mozambique, the countries’ authorities confirmed.

A low-pressure system initially formed over the east coast of Madagascar and evolved into a moderate tropical storm, named Ana, making landfall in Angoche district, Nampula province on Monday. The storm also affected Malawi.

“34 people have died and nearly 65,000 others have been [rendered] homeless since the end of last week,” Madagascar´s Natural Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday.

Mozambique´s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction said it the storm killed two people, injured others 66 and partially destroyed 546 houses and completely destroyed another 115.

According to preliminary information released by the Mozambique´s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction, the provinces of Nampula, Zambezia, Tete, Niassa, Sofala and Manica were hit by the storm.

By Tuesday Mozambique´s meteorological institute said that Cyclone Ana had weakened from a moderate tropical storm to a tropical depression.

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In recent years, Mozambique has been hit by strong storms and cyclones.

Last year, tropical Chalane storm, which passed through Madagascar and Zimbabwe, also killed seven people in central Mozambique.

Cyclones Idai and Kenneth killed at least 1,000 people in Mozambique between March and April 2019.

The two cyclones were the worst natural disasters to hit southern Africa in at least two decades.

In Malawi, classes were suspended in all schools and the country´s Electricity Supply Corporation announced that the institution had experienced a “system shutdown resulting in power outage in most parts of the country due to the tropical cyclone”.

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