"Very serious threat to the area", Cyclone Batsirai is expected to reach eastern Madagascar on Saturday February 5, with winds forecast at more than 200 km / h on the large island in the Indian Ocean where the inhabitants are preparing to his arrival with the means at hand.

After pouring torrential rains for two days on the French island of Reunion, the cyclone was on Saturday at 01:50 GMT some 250 km from the east coast of Madagascar, according to Météo France.

It should land "between the end of the afternoon and the evening of Saturday between Masomeloka and Mananjary, near Nosy-Varika", at the stage of an intense tropical cyclone, "therefore presenting a very serious threat to the area", warns the forecasting body in its Saturday morning bulletin.

>> To see: Reunion: Cyclone Batsirai leaves behind significant material damage

The winds are expected "at more than 200 or even 250 km / h in gusts at the point of impact", notes Météo France.

The waves will be able to reach 10 to 15 meters and the heavy rains "could then extend over part of the southern half of Madagascar".

The island, already hit by tropical storm Ana in January, was swept away on Friday by the wind and continuous rain.

Ana, which had also affected Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, had killed a hundred people – including 56 in Madagascar – and tens of thousands of victims.

Risk of food shortage

The impact of Cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar is expected to be "considerable", including in areas still recovering from Storm Ana, a spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) warned on Friday. UN, Jens Laerke.

The director of the World Food Program (WFP) for Madagascar, Pasqualina Di Sirio, said she anticipated "a major crisis" on the big island, where the cyclone could affect more than 600,000 people, including 150,000 displaced.

>> Read: Storm Ana leaves nearly 100,000 people homeless in southern Africa

Search and rescue teams have been placed on alert, stocks of supplies have been prepared and planes are ready to intervene in support of the humanitarian response.

Razafimahefa Etienne, a farmer from Madagascar, is already worried about food.

The family will have enough to last until Saturday.

"But from Sunday, we won't have anything. We'll try to find another solution but if there's nothing, we'll eat bananas," he said.

Sitting at the top of his house, Tsarafidy Ben Ali, a 23-year-old coal seller, weights the corrugated iron sheets of the roof with bags filled with soil from his garden.

"The gusts of wind are going to be very strong. That's why we're reinforcing the roofs," he told AFP.

About 4.4 million people at risk

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) estimates that around 4.4 million people in total are at risk in one way or another.

"The teams and partners of the Malagasy Red Cross are on alert and deployed within the communities", to warn them of the approach of the storm, while emergency stocks are moved to facilitate the access, explained its secretary general Andoniaina Ratsimamanga.

The teams are also trying with the government to set up emergency shelters.

Cyclone Batsirai moved away from the coast of the French island of Reunion, where the cyclonic red alert, requiring residents to barricade themselves, was lifted on Friday.

Twelve injuries were recorded.

Thirty rescuers rescued eleven sailors – Indian and Bangladeshi – from the Mauritian oil tanker Tresta Star stranded in the south of the island on the night of Thursday to Friday, a “perilous, very technical and unprecedented” operation carried out in “very unfavorable", according to the authorities.

With AFP

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