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Cyclone Gizani Claims 59 Lives and Displaces Thousands in Madagascar

Madagascar: Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management announced on Monday that at least 59 people have died after Cyclone Gizani struck the country. The office is still assessing the impact of the second tropical storm to hit the Indian Ocean nation this year.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the office reported that the cyclone displaced 16,428 people, left 15 missing, injured 804, and classified 423,986 as disaster victims.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that Gizani struck the country ten days after Tropical Cyclone Phetia. The first cyclone killed 14 people and displaced more than 31,000.

At its peak, Cyclone Gizani packed winds of about 185 kilometers per hour, with gusts reaching nearly 270 kilometers per hour-powerful enough to rip metal sheets from roofs and uproot large trees.

The meteorological service said authorities had placed the Ambanihe region in southwestern Madagascar on high alert as Gizani was expected to pass within about 100 kilometers of its coast on Monday evening, bringing winds of about 65 kilometers per hour but no heavy rain.