Bingiza slams into Madagascar, Remains a Threat

Heavy rain and high surf battered the northeast coast of Madagascar as Bingiza made landfall early yesterday morning near Manambolosy, Madagascar. With winds in excess of 100 mph (160 km/h), Bingiza became the first storm to make landfall on the Africa region this year. After landfall the cyclone quickly lost its energy, due to the rugged terrain of the island. Wind speeds are down to 40 mph (63 km/h) and the heavy rain that had been associated with the storm has dissipated. The worst damage will generally be to the north of the point of landfall.

It has since crossed over Madagascar and is now making its way into the Mozambique Channel. This is dangerous. Temperatures in the channel are over 82^oF (28^oC). This is potentially explosive as storms are  known to rapidly intensify in the channel before slamming back into Madagascar, or into Mozambique. There is the potenial that during the next 48 to 72 hours a very strong Bingiza will make landfall again. Of course if the storm does not get access to the channel (ie, stuck over Madagascar) nothing of note will happen.