Cyclone Emnati hits Madagascar overnight

Madagascar is experiencing heavy rain and severe winds as the latest tropical storm hit overnight marking the fourth storm this year.

Cyclone Emnati made landfall around 11:00 pm GMT last night, impacting the same eastern regions devastated by Cyclone Batsirai just weeks ago.

Fortunately, the system had weakened slightly before reaching the African island nation. Reclassified as a tropical storm rather than a cyclone packing wind speeds of around 60 mph on impact.

Around 30,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday in preparation for the latest major storm to arrive, thanks to this action there does not appear to have been any injuries or loss of life.

Much of the eastern coast is still recovering from Batsirai which killed at least 124 people and destroyed over 100,000 homes. Last week Storm Dumako resulted in at least 14 deaths and displaced more than 4,000.

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and is also suffering from a drought-induced famine in southern regions.

Torrential rains could help ease the ongoing drought but if the rainfall is too intense it could also flood farmland, killing crops.

Emnati is currently situated over southern Madagascar although thunderstorms are raging in central and northern regions.

The cyclone should head south into the Indian Ocean later today before dissipating.