Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island's main port, Toamasina. Madagascar's disaster management office said there was "total chaos" - reporting that houses collapsed in the impact zone, where the bodies were found. Neighbourhoods were plunged into darkness as power lines snapped, while trees were uprooted and roofs ripped off. As many as 250,000 people are "affected or displaced", Environment Minister Max Fontaine Andonirina told BBC Newsday on Thursday.

Huge challenges include "disruptions to food-supply chains, to the fuel transport, to the medical access, because most of the major roads are cut", he added. One resident described to the BBC how she and her family cowered inside as wind and rain lashed their home for six hours straight, before the windows smashed and water poured in. "We are trying to do our best... It's dangerous and I don't know if there will be enough people to help us, even though the authorities are trying," the woman, who gave her name as Denise, told BBC Newsday. "It's real and its worse" than it looks in videos being shared online, she added. Gezani is the second cyclone to hit Madagascar this year. It comes 10 days after tropical cyclone Fytia killed 14 and displaced over 31,000 people, according to the UN's humanitarian office. The island's rulers are now pleading for international help. "What happened is a disaster, nearly 75% of the city of Toamasina was destroyed," the country's military leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, told the AFP news agency. "The current situation exceeds Madagascar's capabilities alone," he added. (BBC)