A tropical cyclone that cut across the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar on the weekend resulted in one death, one person missing and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate their homes, officials said Sunday.Cyclone Fytia, packing gusts of up to 210 kilometres (130 miles) per hour, hit northwestern Madagascar early on Saturday, weakening to a tropical storm as it passed across the island to leave it early on Sunday, according to the national meteorological agency.
The fatality occurred when the cyclone caused a house to collapse in the capital Antananarivo, the country's BNGRC disaster-management agency said.
The person missing was carried away by swollen river waters near the town of Majunga.
The BNGRC said 22,000 residents were affected by Fytia, among them 8,441 who had to leave their homes, with most of them finding refuge in dozens of emergency shelters that were set up and the other being hosted by friends or family.
Fytia was the fifth tropical storm to hit Madagascar since September 2025, according to the meteorological agency. The region's cyclone season typically ends in March or April.
