HIGHLIGHTS
• Tropical Cyclone Emnati has passed Mauritius and the French territory of La Reunion and is forecast to reach Madagascar on Tuesday, 22 February, in the late evening.
• Emnati will be the fifth extreme weather event this year, and fourth tropical storm to make landfall in Madagascar in one month, following Tropical Storm Ana (22 January), Tropical Cyclone Batsirai (5 February), Tropical Storm Dumako (15 February), and an inter-tropical convergence zone which impacted Madagascar on 17 January.
• Communities that were hardest-hit by Tropical Cyclone Batsirai are likely to be impacted again by Emnati, which is expected to make landfall between the cities of Mananjary and Manakara.
• Response efforts are ongoing, led by the Government with support from humanitarian partners.
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Tropical Cyclone Emnati intensified on 20 February as it moved westwards, according to Meteo France, and reached the stage of an intense tropical cyclone. It has since weakened and is currently located just over 150 kilometres (km) from the nearest coast and just over 250 km from its projected impact zone. Current forecasts indicate that Emnati will make landfall in Madagascar in the evening of 22 February as a tropical cyclone, between the cities of Mananjary and Manakara, which were both significantly impacted by Tropical Cyclone Batsirai just 17 days ago.
Communities affected by Tropical Cyclone Batsirai are preparing for the potential impacts of Emnati, while still reeling from the devastation of Batsirai. On 20 February, more than 3,500 people were still displaced across 17 sites in Mananjary alone, 57 per cent of whom were female and 42 per cent of whom were children under the age of 18, according to a rapid assessment by the International Office for Migration (IOM) and national disaster risk management agency (BNGRC). The main reason that families cited for remaining at the sites was that their homes were destroyed or damaged during Cyclone Batsirai.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Dumako, which made landfall on the north-east coast of Madagascar on 15 February, has left 14 people dead (5 in Analanjirofo, 5 in Alaotra Mangoro and 4 in Atsinanana). More than 9,900 people have been directly affected (including 4,323 displaced people sheltering in 12 temporary sites), more than 1,200 homes have been flooded (1,016) or destroyed (186), and about 47 classrooms have been destroyed while 282 have been damaged, according to the latest data received from the Government.
Disclaimer
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.