Cat 4 orkaan Giovanna raast over Madagascar

quote:

Op maandag 13 februari 2012 14:57 schreef gebrokenglas het volgende:
Wow. En komen wij aan met ons prutswintertje van 10 dagen lang -10.

Mooie foto, met dat oog van die tornado zo

quote:

Op maandag 13 februari 2012 16:40 schreef Frutsel het volgende:

[..]

Tornado is wel heel iets anders hoor

quote:

Earth's most dangerous storm of 2012 targets Madagascar
Earth's most dangerous storm of 2012 is Tropical Cyclone Giovanna, which is bearing down on Madagascar as a powerful Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds. Giovanna is predicted to hit a heavily populated portion of the east coast of the island near 22 GMT tonight as a Category 3 storm, then move inland, passing near the capital of Antananarivo as a Category 1 storm on Tuesday morning. The outer spiral bands of the storm have already moved over the island, bringing heavy rains and gusty winds.

The forecast: not good
Recent microwave satellite imagery shows that Giovanna has concentric eyewalls, and it likely that the inner eyewall will collapse today as the storm undergoes an eyewall replacement cycle. This process should gradually weaken the storm, and I expect Giovanna will weaken slightly to a still very dangerous Category 3 storm with 125 - 130 mph winds at landfall. However, the eyewall replacement cycle will spread out the storm's hurricane-force winds over a larger area, increasing the storm surge. A 70-mile long swath of the coast that is heavily populated will receive sustained hurricane-force winds tonight. Rainfall amounts in excess of eight inches in a 24-hour period are expected along the center of Giovanna's path. These rains will cause extensive flooding and major damage to the country, and the storm is likely to be one of the top three most expensive disasters in Malagasy history. The damage potential is higher than for previous storms of similar intensity, due to the considerable deforestation Madagascar has experienced over the past 30 years. Madagascar lost 8.3% of its forest cover between 1990 and 2010 and is now just 22% forested, according to mongabay.com. Flood waters run off quicker from deforested land, reach higher heights, and cause greater damage.

quote:

Op maandag 13 februari 2012 16:44 schreef Cobra4 het volgende:
Zie ik het goed? Is er onder Indonesië nog een orkaan aan het ontstaan?

[ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op maandag 13 februari 2012 16:59 schreef Frutsel het volgende:
Dan komt hij vermoedelijk eerst hier in:
Hurricane Season 2012 # 1

Ik zal eens een tweet doen richting TWU over deze krul

quote:

Op maandag 13 februari 2012 20:20 schreef Cobra4 het volgende:

[..]

quote:

Madagascar has been hit by Cat.4 Giovanna
A tropical cyclone has hit the island of Madagascar, with winds of up to 194km (120mph) ripping up trees and electricity pylons.

Cyclone Giovanna made landfall overnight near the eastern port city of Toamasina.

Emergency service vehicles were out in the capital, Antananarivo, on Tuesday morning clearing up the debris.

Meteorologists warn the damage may be as bad as in 1994, when a cyclone killed 200 people and displaced 40,000.

At least one person has been killed in the inland sugar-producing town of Brickaville after an electricity pole fell on her, a government official told the Reuters news agency.

Antananarivo-based journalist Tim Healy told the BBC's Network Africa the capital is experiencing very high winds and heavy rainfall - after the eye of the storm passed through about six hours after battering Toamasina, 200km (about 125 miles) away.

People are staying at home and offices, schools and businesses have been shut.

He says he has been unable to ask residents living in and nearby Toamasina the extent of the damage there because telephone lines have been brought down by the cyclone.

But he warns it could be serious - given that many coastal villagers live in simple houses built of wood and leaves.
Town criers

The government of Madagascar issued the first warnings on Monday afternoon - but residents say the intensity of the cyclone was not explained.

Town criers, who walk around the streets ringing a bell and shouting out information in the local Malagasy language, are normally used by the government in a time of crisis.

But Mr Healy said they were not heard on Monday and it has left many people taken aback by the storm's severity.

Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, is prone to cyclones and tropical storms, especially in the rainy season between February and May.

Mike Piggot, a meteorologist with the US-based monitoring body AccuWeather, told the BBC the storm was of a similar strength to Cyclone Geralda.

It was one of the worst cyclones to hit Madagascar and destroyed about 300,000 hectares of crops and left thousands homeless in 1994.

The storm is now heading towards southern Mozambique, he said.

quote:

At least 5 dead in Madagascar
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR (BNO NEWS) -- At least five people were killed on Tuesday when Intense Tropical Cyclone Giovanna made landfall on the eastern coast of Madagascar, local media reported on Wednesday. Hundreds of homes were damaged.

The tropical cyclone made landfall just south of the port of Toamasina at around 1 a.m. local time on Tuesday, bringing torrential rains and winds of up to 180 kilometers (112 miles) per hour. Although the Category 4 cyclone weakened as it crossed the island country, it caused widespread damage.

The capital Antananarivo, which is usually spared from intense tropical cyclones, was without electricity, water and telephone services on Tuesday. Many roads were closed, homes were damaged and firefighters reported two people, one of them a baby, drowned in the capital.

Fatalities were also reported in other parts of the country, according to the Madagascar-Tribune newspaper. Two people were killed when a tree fell on their house in the city of Brickaville while a landslide buried a house in Moramanga, killing at least one person.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the storm caused significant damage to public infrastructure across the country and warned Madagascar already faced high malnutrition rates, particularly in children. There is also a low level of access to fresh water and decent sanitation.

As of Wednesday morning, the center of Giovanna was located just off the western coast of Madagascar, or about 250 nautical miles (463 kilometers) west-southwest of Antananarivo. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to 46 miles (74 kilometers) per hour with gusts of up to 57 miles (92 kilometers) per hour, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).

Madagascar, which is located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa, is frequently faced with cyclones and tropical storms in the early months of the year. Last year, Cyclone Bingiza killed at least 14 people and destroyed almost 6,000 homes.

Two Dead as Cyclone Giovanna Hits Madagascar

quote:

When Tropical Cyclone Giovanna came ashore in eastern Madagascar, the well-organized storm not only brought high winds, but also heavy precipitation. Flooding affected multiple neighborhoods in the capital city of Antananarivo and surrounding areas. As of February 15, 2012, the death toll stood at 16.

This color-coded map shows the rain associated with Giovanna from February 8 to 14, 2012. The heaviest rainfall—more than 350 millimeters or nearly 14 inches—appears in dark blue. The lightest rainfall—less than 50 millimeters or 2 inches—appears in light green. Trace amounts of precipitation appear in pale yellow. The heaviest rainfall occurs east of Madagascar, but almost equally heavy rainfall occurs along the island’s east coast.

Superimposed on the rainfall is Giovanna’s storm track, with darker shades of red corresponding with a greater storm strength. Before making landfall, Giovanna strengthened to a Category 4 storm. Storm strength dissipated over the island and the Mozambique Channel. Forecasts from the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center called for Giovanna to re-strengthen somewhat west of Madagascar, but the storm was not expected to match its prior wind speeds.

This image is based on data from the Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis produced at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which estimates rainfall by combining measurements from many satellites and calibrating them using rainfall measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.

quote:

Balans doortocht Giovanna zwaarder dan gedacht
De balans na de doortocht van cycloon Giovanna op Madagascar is zwaarder dan eerst gedacht: zeker 23 mensen zijn vorige week om het leven gekomen en bijna 200.000 mensen zijn dakloos. Dat meldt het nationale agentschap voor natuurrampen.

De storm raasde met snelheden tot 200 kilometer per uur over het arme eiland voor de oostkust van Afrika.

De regering in Antananarivo heeft internationale hulp gevraagd bij het puinruimen en de heropbouw.

De laatste storm van categorie 4 op het eiland dateert van februari 1994. Toen kwamen meer dan 200 mensen om het leven. (belga/jv)

quote:

65 doden op Madagaskar door tropische storm Irina

De tropische storm Irina heeft op Madagaskar ten minste 65 slachtoffers veroorzaakt. De meeste doden vielen in het zuidoostelijk gelegen district Ifanadiana.
Het nationale bureau voor natuurrampen BNGRC heeft bekendgemaakt dat verder ten minste drie mensen worden vermist.

In het Zuid-Afrikaanse Durban werden de stranden afgesloten vanwege de komst van Irina en moesten schepen binnensgaats blijven. In Mozambique eiste Irina minstens één leven.

Bijna drie weken geleden vielen in dezelfde regio 35 slachtoffers ten gevolge van de tropische cycloon Giovanna.