65 killed in Madagascar storm—weather agency

ANTANANARIVO – Tropical Storm Irina has killed at least 65 people in Madagascar, most of them residents of the Ifanadiana district in the southeast of the island, weather authorities said on Monday.

Three people were also reported missing, according to the national bureau of natural catastrophes (BNGRC), which did not provide any other details.

Earlier it was reported that only one person had been killed when the storm passed over Madagascar last week before lashing the coasts of SOuth Africa and Mozambique, where at least one person was killed.

“A tree fell on a house and the roof collapsed,” killing an elderly man in Mozambique’s southern Gaza province, said Rita Almeida, spokeswoman for the national disaster agency.

In the South African city of Durban, beaches were closed as waves reached three-metre (16-foot), municipal spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said. Ships were ordered to remain in port.

Irina was the second killer storm of the season. Tropical cyclone Giovanna left 35 people dead and many more injured.