UN warns of 'significant impact' as new storm nears Madagascar
Just a week after Tropical Storm Ana left a trail of destruction through Madagascar, the United Nations warned Friday that an incoming cyclone could impact nearly 600,000 people.
Cyclone Batsirai is expected to make landfall on Madagascar's east coast on Saturday morning, after passing through Mauritius.
"We anticipate a significant impact in Madagascar, including in areas that are still recovering from Tropical Storm Ana in late January," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN's humanitarian organisation OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
He said the UN and aid organisations were ramping up their preparedness, placing rescue aircraft on standby and stockpiling more humanitarian supplies.
At least 131,000 people were affected by Ana across Madagascar. More than 58 people were killed, mostly in the capital Antananarivo.
Some 71,000 people in Madagascar were displaced by that storm, the UN said, warning that many of them risked being impacted again when Batsirai hit.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) pointed to estimates from national authorities that some 595,000 people could risk being directly affected, and 150,000 more might be displaced due to new landslides and flooding.
