In recent days, we have received pictures from Rev Antsa, the priest in charge of the district of Amboasary, in the deep south of the Diocese, showing children playing happily in large puddles, and emaciated cattle drinking. The rain there is very welcome, as the area was recently in sufficiently severe drought that some cattle were dying of thirst.

Near the western coast, however, people are understandably not so happy.  Cyclones between Madagascar and Mozambique have brought several days of torrential rain that has flooded their homes, and is due to continue for the next couple of days, followed by extreme heat.  

Rev Delphin (who lives in the cathedral complex) has sent a video of the complex.  It is rainier than when the cyclone hit the area in 2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdCVertvlpI

Rev Gaston, who recently transferred from the deep south to serve on the west coast of the diocese has sent pictures of knee-deep water in and around his home. 

The people in Toliara town are anxiously hoping to keep their few possessions out of the floodwaters in their homes, and also finding the weather too cold, as heavy rainclouds blot out the sun.

Please hold them in your prayers

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

News from Canon Donné:

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.