Cyclone Gezani

Intense Tropical Cyclone Gezani was a deadly, long-lived and destructive tropical cyclone that affected parts of Madagascar, St. Brandon, Mascarene Islands, and Mozambique; particularly Toamasina as an intense tropical cyclone. The ninth depression, eighth storm and third tropical cyclone of the 2025–26 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, the storm was the strongest tropical cyclone to impact Madagascar so far in 2026. The cyclone formed on 4 February 2026 as a tropical disturbance, and mostly hovered in the same spot for a few coming days. A while later, the storm tracked southwest at a relatively low pace. On 8 February, the disturbance was upgraded to a moderate tropical storm and was given the name Gezani. Over the next few days, the storm rapidly intensified from a moderate tropical storm to a tropical cyclone in a small 30-hour window. It made landfall in Madagascar as an intense tropical cyclone with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) and pressure as low as 953 hPa (mbar).

Gezani left at least 63 people dead, including 59 in Madagascar, 804 others injured, and 15 missing; alongside 16,000 being displaced. The cyclone has destroyed 25,000 homes, with a further 27,000 flooded. According to the CMRS cyclone forecaster on France's Réunion island, Cyclone Gezani's landfall is likely to have been one of the most intense recorded around the city in the satellite era.