By Phephile Motau
Four people have been killed in Madagascar as Cyclone Freddy wreaks havoc in the country.
Reuters reports that the Madagascar government confirmed the deaths on Wednesday as the storm moved west across the island nation toward mainland Africa.
Freddy is reported to have made landfall in southeastern Madagascar late on Tuesday with gusts of up to 180 km per hour (110 miles per hour), flooding the area and ripping roofs off houses.
Read More: Cyclone Freddy could extend to Eswatini
Its arrival came nearly a month after storm Cheneso killed 33 people and forced thousands from their homes in Madagascar.
In a statement, the government’s National Office of Risks and Disasters revised the death toll up to four from one earlier. The storm has displaced over 11 000 people, flooded over 2000 houses and destroyed another 2 267, according to the statement.
After traversing Madagascar, Freddy could reappear in the Mozambique Channel, strengthening before making landfall in Mozambique and then potentially moving on to Zimbabwe, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
