GENEVA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Tropical Cyclone Batsirai is expected to strike Madagascar heavily on Saturday morning, only weeks after tropical storm Ana wreaked havoc in the country, the United Nations (UN) warned on Friday.
Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said at a media briefing here that Madagascar, which is still recovering from tropical storm Ana, is bracing for Batsirai, currently the equivalent of a category 3 storm but is expected to strengthen to category 4 with winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour.
"Batsirai was expected to make landfall on 5 February on the east coast, and then to curve away from Mozambique. Waves at sea are already eight to 15 meters high, but the chief threat is from rainfall," she said.
According to Nullis, Batsirai is expected to bring up to 300 millimeters of rain, which could cause dramatic flooding in saturated land or drought-affected areas.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the briefing that the UN and its humanitarian partners were ramping up preparedness efforts in anticipation of Batsirai.
These include the pre-deployment of search and rescue capacity and response teams to areas likely to be impacted; the placement of aircraft on standby to support rapid assessment and response; and the purchase of humanitarian supplies to increase available stocks, he said.
Pasqualina Disirio, the World Food Programme's (WFP) country director in Madagascar, told the briefing via video link that the multiple crises -- chiefly drought and the recent tropical storm Ana -- have hit the country amid the crucial rice crop season.
Batsirai is expected to affect at least 600,000 people and may displace 150,000, she said. ■
