Antananarivo (Madagascar) (AFP) – At least 31 people died in Madagascar during the passage of Cyclone Gezani, which hit the country's second city, Toamasina, hard on Tuesday evening, the Malagasy authorities announced on Wednesday in a new rising toll.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 6:21 p.m.

“What happened is a catastrophe: almost 75% of the city of Toamasina was destroyed,” the strong man of the Indian Ocean island, Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, told the cameras.

Gusts of 250 km/h ravaged this port of nearly 400,000 inhabitants, where 4 people are also missing and 36 seriously injured, according to the provisional report from the National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC).

Videos shared by the presidency show Michaël Randrianirina wading through the flooded streets of the port city. He went to Toamasina preventively to show his support for the population, four months after the military took power.

In the images, this green town, also called Tamatave - its former name under French colonization - appears disfigured.

Its streets are littered with hundreds of trees uprooted by the cyclone which left more than 250,000 victims, according to the authorities.

An aerial video shared by the BNGRC shows tin roofs gutted as far as the eye can see and the palm trees of Independence Avenue toppled like simple matchsticks.

These scenes raise fears of a heavy human toll on this island where the vast majority of homes “are made up of precarious walls (71.9%)”, according to official statistics from 2021. Namely “essentially built with stems or bark or leaves, and uncooked brick or beaten earth”.

“90% of roofs blown away”

"It's total chaos, 90% of the roofs of the houses have blown off, all or in part," a regional manager of the NGO Action Against Hunger, Rija Randrianarisoa, described to AFP. “The roads are completely inaccessible, due to trees on the ground and metal sheets. Cars cannot travel.”

The Regional Cyclone Meteorological Center (CMRS) on the French island of Reunion mentioned in its bulletin "one of the most intense direct impacts of the satellite era on the Tamatave sector, probably rivaling Geralda".

In February 1994, this cyclone caused at least 200 deaths and 500,000 victims.

If commercial links with Toamasina airport are suspended, its management told AFP that humanitarian and military flights were authorized. Fifteen members of the armed forces' civil protection were dispatched to help with rescue operations, authorities announced.

Appointed president of the Refoundation of the country after the fall of ex-president Andry Rajoelina in October, Michaël Randrianiria said on Wednesday "to launch an appeal for help from our partners and international donors": "The current situation exceeds the capacities of Madagascar alone."

The depression weakened significantly upon making landfall but continues to cross the island from east to west. Even downgraded to tropical storm stage, it poses risks of flooding.

Since Geralda in 1994, Gretelle in January 1997 (152 dead, 60,000 homeless) and Gafilo in 2004 (241 dead, more than 300,000 victims) had also been particularly deadly.

Gezani should regain intensity by joining the Mozambique Channel and then return to cyclone stage, according to CMRS forecasts. From Friday evening it could hit the south of this southern African country already devastated by impressive floods since the start of the year.

© 2026 AFP

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