Sharp rise in death toll from Cyclone Patzirai in Madagascar

The death toll from Cyclone Patzirai in Madagascar has risen to 80 from 29 previously reported, the state disaster relief agency said on Wednesday, as information continued to flow from hard-hit areas of the country.

The cyclone hit the large island in the Indian Ocean late on Saturday, destroying homes and power lines as it hit the southeast coast until it moved away late on Sunday, destroying or destroying the homes of 91,000 people.

The disaster relief agency said 60 of the dead occurred in one region, the Ekongo region in southeastern Madagascar. She is still gathering details about what happened in Ikongo.

A member of parliament representing the area had said earlier that the death toll was high there and that most of the victims drowned or were crushed when their homes collapsed.

Batsiri is the second devastating storm in Madagascar in two weeks, after Cyclone Anna killed 55 people and displaced 130,000 in a different part of the country, to the north.

The island nation, with a population of nearly 30 million, was already suffering from food shortages in the south, as a result of a severe and prolonged drought.

The World Food Program said Patsirai made matters worse by destroying crops of rice, fruits and vegetables that were only two weeks away from harvest.

The cyclone caused widespread flooding and rendered 12 roads and 14 bridges impassable, cutting off some of the hardest-hit areas and hampering efforts to provide relief to local communities.

(Reuters)