We have heard more news from the Diocese and received more photos. Please continue to hold everyone affected in your prayers.
News from Fenoarivo
More than 1,200 Christian had their houses damaged due to Cyclone Freddy in the parish of Fenoarivo. The crops have been completely destroyed, and people have been killed by the flooding by river and sea. We need your prayers.
Please pray too for the wife of the Parish Priest, Rev Delphin, who is very sick.
Photos from Betioky Parish
Morombe Church
Please continue to pray for everyone in the southwest of Madagascar – and the people in Mozambique as Cyclone Freddy is heading back to there.
Here are some photos from the Cathedral Complex from today:
And St Philip’s, Ambohitsabo:
Most unusually Cyclone Freddy, which had already crossed over the island of Madagascar and reached Mozambique, has returned to Toliara and hit the Diocese really badly.
The Cathedral is flooded, the churches in Ambohimahavelona and Analaiva have collapsed and many homes have been destroyed, including at least four homes of Christians in Sakaraha. Flood water is rising in Morondava.
Crops have been destroyed and the price of food is escalating. News is still reaching us from the affected areas.
Please hold the Diocese and all the people of Toliara in your prayers, as they recover from this devastation.
The Diocese is very grateful for your prayers, and sends their thanks. Cyclone Freddy weakened in strength by the time it reached the Diocese, and even Fort Dauphin on the east coast in the south of the island was not harmed.
As you will have seen on the world news, Mananjary on the east coast in about the middle of the island was badly affected, as it was last year by Cyclone Batsirai. At the time of writing, the storm is over Mozambique and heading for Zimbabwe.
Cyclone Freddy has made landfall on the east coast of Madagascar, and is heading across the country for Mozambique. Winds are in excess of 80mph and torrential rain is falling. Please continue to hold the people and their crops in your prayers, especially for those living in Mananjary which was badly hit by Cyclone Batsirai last year.
You can find more news on the internet. Here is the BBC report.
Cyclone Freddy is threatening to hit Madagascar on Tuesday. It formed in Indonesia nearly two weeks ago and has been travelling across the Indian Ocean since then. Please pray for it to lessen in strength before reaching Mauritius and Madagascar.
You can read more here
After the cyclones earlier this year, churches in the south east of the Diocese need roof repairs or new roofs. The Diocese is hoping to raise $3,846 for roof and other repairs and re-painting at St Gregory’s, Fort Dauphin, and a further $2,769 for corrugated iron roofs on 20 small churches in Maroaloka and Ambovombe.
Good news: There is a matching grant for $3500 offered to encourage you to help cover these costs. This grant is available until November 1 – so, if you want to donate, please do so now!
| Click here to make a donation from the USA Please note that your gift is for church roofs in the box “Add instructions to the finance office”. Click here to make a donation from the UK Please note that your gift is for church roofs, specifying St.Gregory’s or small churches if you so wish. Contact us here to make a donation from elsewhere in the world |
Dear friends in Christ,
I am so happy to be able to give you news of the passage of cyclone EMNATI in the district that I manage (Fort-Dauphin). We thank the Almighty God because He protected us, even if there was some damage on the infrastructure of the church buildings.
The above photos are of the church under construction at Enato, where we could not avoid these damages because the roof was not yet completely fixed in place.
We hope and ask strongly for prayer from you, not only for us but for Madagascar because we know that it is not us alone that the cyclone has hit. Let us pray together so that God forgives us and deliver us from all these cyclones. There are already 5 tropical cyclones and depressions since the beginning of the year, and now there are rumors that there are 5 to come too.
We beg you to ask God together with us to spare us because we are already living in difficulty and with its cyclones we do not know where it will end. The roads are destroyed, hence the increase in the price of existing essential products such as sugars, oils, soap, etc….or cultivation and farm is destroy too.
We thank you for our close collaboration and I hope it brings much fruit for the glory of God to bring back the lost.
We also pray all the time for you especially by seeing every day on the news about the war between Russia and Ukraine. We pray that God calms them down and that it does not widen globally.
Sincerely from your friends and Servant of God together.
Rev Dieu Donné (Fort Dauphin District)
Please continue to pray for Madagascar as another possible cyclone nears the country. This is expected to hit the already cyclone-ravaged east coast of Madagascar on Tuesday morning.
An estimated 270,900 people need assistance in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Batsirai which hit Madagascar on 5th February. Around 21,000 people are still displaced, and 20,500 homes have been destroyed, flooded, or damaged.
Tropical Storm Dumako hit the north-east coast on 15th February, directly affecting at least 5,100 people.
Now the Government and humanitarian partners are closely following the evolution of a new weather system—Tropical Storm Emnati. Although Emnati’s trajectory and potential impact are still uncertain, it is continuing to intensify and could reach the stage of a Tropical Cyclone or Intense Tropical Cyclone ahead of landfall, according to MeteoFrance. See https://reliefweb.int/report/madagascar/southern-africa-cyclone-season-flash-update-no-7-17-february-2022 for more information.
Thank you for your prayers for Madagascar. We have heard news from various parts of the country.
Rev. Berthier Lainirina, Provincial Secretary of the Anglican Church of Indian Ocean, reports that Cyclone Batsirai has gone, leaving Madagascar with disasters. It entered Madagascar at Mananjary on the east coast affecting the provinces of Toamasina and Fianarantsoa. High winds and heavy rainfall caused flooding and damage to buildings, roads and bridges in eastern, central and southern regions. Communications, power and water supplies are disrupted in affected areas.
50 000 people have been displaced and 10 deaths counted up to now. Most of the people of those regions found their crops destroyed.
Within the Anglican Diocese of Toamasina, 4 churches were destroyed and some Christians lost their homes. In the Diocese of Fianarantsoa, the cyclone destroyed 45 churches, 6 schools, 13 Pastor’s houses, and one part of the wall of the Cathedral. Again most of the crops are destroyed. These are statistics as of Sunday 6th and might increase once all damages has been evaluated.
Johary, Canon Donné’s eldest son, now lives and works in his birthplace, Anosibe Anala (east of Antananarivo) and reports that there was just a little wind and small amount of rain, and by Saturday night the weather was already clear. He sent a photo of the valley which was badly flooded by Cyclone Ana, which now looks much better:
Rev. Berthier, living in the Cathedral Complex in Toliara town, tells us that the cyclone has brought helpful rain to Toliara and it is now cooler there.
Bishop Samy was able to go ahead with the confirmation service in St Luke’s, Ankilifaly, Toliara town today.
Canon Donné reports from Fort Dauphin – that the cyclone has not caused much destruction there – just small wind and rain.
Rev. Gaston in Ambovombe says “We are all fine, thank you so much. Here now there is rain and wind but not much. So it is bringing good for us in the Androy region. This rain is good for the crops of Androy, and it helps to increase the underground water levels too. We can also buy water more cheaply now, and some people don’t need to buy water because we can collect water from the roof in the blue water tanks.”
Rev Nolavy in Sakaraha tells us: “There is good rain now, and some strong wind, but no damage yet. It has been raining non-stop since yesterday till today.”
