Madagascar residents brace for cyclone Freddy

Residents in Madagascar are bracing for tropical cyclone Freddy due to landfall on Tuesday.

According to the UN’s disaster management agency, OCHA, the cyclone should hit the eastern coast of Madagascar on Tuesday evening after having brushed past Mauritius.

Locals in the eastern coast were seen reinforcing roofs with sandbags to prevent them from being blown away.

“We are afraid of rising waters, accompanied by gusts of wind that can destroy everything like the wires of the poles, that is what traumatizes me the most. So it’s better to prepare for this danger. That’s why I moved”, said official Rivo Rahaja.

The storm is likely to land north of Mananjary, a coastal town of 25,000 people that remains devastated by last year’s Cyclone Batsirai, which killed more than 130 people across the country.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said more than 2.3 million people in Madagascar could be affected by Freddy, and the cyclone would pass through Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

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