Death toll from Madagascar storm rises to 22

Residents walk in a flooded area of the 67-hectare Ankasina neighbourhood in Antananarivo on January 28, 2022 as Madagascar suffered flooding caused by a severe storm. Torrential rains from deadly Tropical Storm Ana subsided on Friday leaving tens of thousands of people across three countries in southern Africa cut off by flood damage, without power and living in shelters. The death toll stood at 86 across Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi, as rescue crews battled on to access regions where roads and bridges had washed away. (Photo by RIJASOLO / AFP)

(AFP) - The death toll from a tropical storm that lashed parts of northeastern Madagascar last week has climbed to 22, the government's disaster management office announced Friday, revising its earlier tally.

Another 20 people are missing after the storm flooded several districts and cut roads linking them to the capital Antananarivo.

An updated tally sent to AFP by Faly Aritiana Fabien, a senior official at Madagascar's National Risk Management Office, showed that more than 59,100 people were affected by the floods, many of them displaced from their homes.

Storm Cheneso made landfall on January 19, packing winds of up to 110 kilometres (68 miles) per hour and triggering downpours.

It is the first tropical storm of the current cyclone season in southern Africa, which typically runs from November to April.

© Agence France-Presse