Cyclone slams into Madasgacar, at least three dead

Cyclone Enawo packed winds gusting as high as 300 kmh

Cyclone Enawo, a massive tropical storm packing winds gusting as high as 300 km per hour, killed at least three people when it slammed into the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, officials said on Wednesday.

Enawo struck the northeast village of Ampahana on Tuesday morning. It had since been downgraded from an "intense tropical cyclone" to a "tropical storm" with winds gusting at 130 kph, domestic weather bulletins said. Rivo Randrianarison, the head of the local weather service said it was one of the country's worst storms in recent years.



"Enawo is of the same intensity as those which have wreaked havoc like Indlala in 2007, Ivan in 2008, Gafilo in 2004 or Giovanna in 2012," he said on national radio.

The government said at least three people were killed when Enawo first struck land on the vanilla-producing northeastern coast of the island.

Most of the initial damage was concentrated in the town of
Antalaha, the government said without providing details.