Dia Stivanley, spokeswoman for the National Office for Management of Risks and Catastrophes (BNGRC), said 12 of the island's 22 regions had been hit by cyclone Ivan, a category three storm, notably the rice-producing area of Alaotra Mangoro, 150 kilometres (95 miles) northeast of the capital Antananarivo.

Nineteen of the 29 deaths occurred in that region and 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of rice fields were flooded.

Emergency services were hampered by breaks in telephone and road links in some areas, the BNGRC said.

Ivan, with winds gusting up to 230 kilometres an hour, struck eastern Madagascar on February 17. It was the most destructive yet of the current cyclone season after Fame, which killed 13 people last month.

The country's foreign minister, Marcel Ranjeva, said preventive measures had been taken but "unfortunately the cyclones have been of such intensity our measures have been limited, and after exhausting our resources, we have asked for help from friendly countries and international organisations," he said.

"If no action is taken, the situation will get worse, especially regarding public health," he added.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.