Death toll from Madagascar floods rises to 13

[senorpepr]

ANTANANARIVO (AFP) - The death toll from devastating floods that hit Madagascar last week has risen to 13, as the region struggles to recover from the aftermath of unusually heavy rains.

Officials had earlier said that four had died from the flooding, that also left thousands homeless and destroyed a portion of the rice crop around the Indian Ocean island's Lake Alaotra had been underestimated.

"The estimate was low because in addition to the Lake Alaotra area, where four were listed as dead, nine other deaths were reported in other areas of the island," said Solondrina Andriamampandry, an official with Madagascar's National Emergency Service.

The nine new deaths were reported in the southeastern area of Farafanga, where five people were killed, in the northern region of Diana, where three were killed and in the northwest region of Sofia-Boeny where three were killed.

"We don't have exact details on the causes of these deaths, but they are related to the floods", Andriamampandry said Thursday.

Five days of unusually heavy rains between March 1 and 6 flooded parts of Madagascar, causing the deaths and injuries while submerging nearly 10 percent of the rice fields around Lake Alaotra, known as the country's rice basket.

The new casualty and damage tolls stood Thursday at 15 wounded in hospitals, 7,702 homeless, and 32,511 hectares (80,336 acres) of rice fields destroyed.

According to the island's meteorology department, 140 millimetres (5.5 inches) of rain fell in the four days of downpours around Lake Alaotra, almost the entire monthly average for March of 159 millimetres (6.3 inches).