Other World Weather News: Madagascar Cyclone, More South American Heat, Canadian Ice

Cyclone Batsirai bearing down on 
Madagascar this past weekend. 

While we contend with winter storms here and there in the United States, other parts of the world continue to tally their own weather disasters and extremes.  

MADAGASCAR HURRICANE

A cyclone, which is what a hurricane is called in the Indian Ocean, on Saturday struck  Madagascar, the island nation off the east coast of Africa. 

Tropical Cyclone Batsirai with winds of up to 115 mph and torrential rains slammed into the central east coast, killing at least 20 people and causing widespread damage. Emergency workers said the death toll will almost certainly rise a lot more.  

The storm was the equivalent of aa Category 3 hurricane. 

It had been packing winds of up to 145 mph Thursday as it cruised through the Indian Ocean, headed toward Madagascar. That island is still trying to recover from extensive flooding from Tropical Storm Ana a few weeks ago.

As Batsirai passed by, an incredible 56 inches of rain fell in one spot on Reunion Island within 72 hours. That island is notorious for freaky rains. Reunion holds the world record for most rain within 24 hours - 71.8 inches in January, 1966. For perspective, is normally takes nearly two years to accumulate that much rain here in Vermont. 

Madagascar does have a history with tropical cyclones, as it averages one hit per year. The problem is, the hits are getting harder. 

The nation of 28 million people has been hit by 12 landfalling storms of Category 4 or greater, but eight of those have struck since the year 2000, notes CNN.

While this one was a Category 2 storm, the fact that this one comes on the heels of another tropical cyclone a few weeks ago makes this one all the worse.  

ECUADOR MUDSLIDE

Winter is summer south of the Equator and that part of South America has had a terrible summer of alternating heat waves and vicious storms.

One of the latest hit the capital of Ecuador with immense mudslides in torrential rains. The disaster killed at least 24 people and injures more than four dozen others, reports the Washington Post.

Numerous homes collapsed or were carried away by mud and water

NOVA SCOTIA ICE 

Damaging ice storm in Nova Scotia last weekend.

Storms don't stop at borders. Last week, a crippling ice storm cut power and damaged trees from Texas to New York. The ice kept going into southeastern Canada after leaving New England Friday, and dealt a messy blow to Nova Scotia.  

The storm cut power to 53,000 Nova Scotians and plenty of branches and trees collapsed under the weight of the ice. 

ICELAND/GREENLAND BLAST

The storm that hit the United States from Texas to Maine with snow and ice, then Nova Scotia, as I described above did not actually have a strong center of low pressure.  It had boatloads of moisture, which is why precipitation was so heavy. But the storm center itself wasn't that strong.

Until it was. Once the storm rolled past Nova Scotia it blew up to become the strongest storm of the season in the North Atlantic. That's saying something, because there's tons of wicked strong winter storms in the North Atlantic

The center of this thing went up to between Greenland and Iceland. It blasted southern Greenland and Iceland with hurricane-force winds in spots, blizzards, along with storm surges and destructive coastal waves.

The storm cut power to swaths of Iceland, including parts of the capital Reykjavik as winds gusted to as high as 90 mph on parts of the island. Repairs to power lines were slowed by lightning, which is quite rare in Iceland, especially in the winter.