Africa News
Two dead as cyclone pounds Madagascar, UN says
Feb 14, 2012, 15:32 GMT
Johannesburg - Two people were reported dead in Madagascar as Tropical Cyclone Giovanna made landfall on the eastern coast of the African island on Tuesday, the United Nations said.
Key infrastructure was also severely damaged, according to the UN team on the island, amid heavy rainfall and winds of up to 180 kilometres per hour.
Giovanna is considered a Category 4 tropical cyclone and is battering some of the country's most densely populated districts.
It is expected to be downgraded to a Category 1 cyclone in the coming hours, when Giovanna is due to hit the capital Antananarivo.
The cyclone may then hit Mozambique, where more than 40 people have already died in recent storms.
In 1994, a cyclone killed 200 people and displaced 40,000 in Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island. Vast agricultural lands and crops were also destroyed.
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