Cyclone Gezani leaves 59 dead in Madagascar, displaces more than 16,000

At least 59 people died when Cyclone Gezani struck Madagascar last week, the disaster management office said on Monday, as it assesses the impact of the second tropical storm to hit the Indian Ocean island nation this year.

The cyclone displaced 16,428, while 15 people remain missing, 804 were injured and 423,986 were classified as affected by the disaster, the National Bureau for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC) said.

Gezani barrelled through the country just 10 days after Tropical Cyclone Fytia killed 14 people and displaced over 31,000, according to the United Nations' humanitarian office.

At its peak, Gezani had sustained winds of about 185 km (115 miles) per hour, with gusts rising to nearly 270 km per hour - powerful enough to rip metal sheeting from rooftops and uproot large trees.

The cyclone moved westward across the Mozambique Channel, bringing heavy winds and waves of up to 10 metres in the southern end of Mozambique, its weather service said in a statement.

The weather system has since curved back eastward over the channel, and forecasts show it looping toward Madagascar again, with a second landfall expected in southwestern Madagascar on Monday.

Authorities have placed Ampanihy district in southwestern Madagascar on red alert, with Gezani forecast to pass about 100 km off its coast on Monday evening, bringing winds of around 65 km/h but no heavy rainfall, the weather service said.

-Reporting by Lovasoa Rabary, additional reporting by Anathi Madubela in Johannesburg; Writing by George Obulutsa;Editing by Bate Felix; Editing by Anil D'Silva/Reuters