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- Tropical Cyclone Haruna was a deadly storm that produced widespread flooding and a disease outbreak in southwestern Madagascar. The ninth system of the season, Haruna developed in the Mozambique channel in the middle of February 2013 between Mozambique and southwestern Madagascar. Initially moving northward over Mozambique, the disturbance later moved slowly southward, gradually strengthening into the eighth named storm of the season and later into an intense tropical cyclone. The Météo-France office in Réunion (MFR) – the official Regional Specialized Meteorological Center in the basin – estimated the cyclone attained peak 10 minute sustained winds of 150 km/h (95 mph). Haruna made landfall near Morombe in southwestern Madagascar on February 22. It weakened significantly while crossing the country, and MFR discontinued advisories on February 24 after the storm had emerged into the Indian Ocean. Before Haruna struck Madagascar, a pre-existing system produced deadly flooding, and when the cyclone crossed the country, it added additional rainfall to the region. Flooding was worst in Toliara where a dyke burst, flooding much of the town and leaving residents without water or power. Many villages in southwestern Madagascar lost access to clean water, prompting various international agencies to deploy teams to decontaminate wells. Haruna destroyed 7,402 houses, which left 13,882 people homeless. Most of the displaced people were able to leave their shelters by early April. The cyclone damaged rice and maize crops along the coast, although there were extended residual effects when a locust outbreak occurred, affecting half of Madagascar's farmlands by July 2013. Throughout Madagascar, Haruna killed 26 people and injured 127 directly, and there were outbreaks of various diseases in the storm's aftermath. (en)
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