Cyclone Giovanna which swept through Madagascar since early Tuesday has left at least 17 people dead, 76 injured and four missing, according to the Indian Ocean island country's disaster management bureau.

The storm also affected more than 170,000 people in the region, the source said on Thursday night, citing data collected from 93 communes.

The institution said the most affected district was Brickaville which had over 132,731 victims, followed by Vatomandry with 22,043 victims and Mahanoro with 10,748 victims.

All these districts are in the eastern region of the country from where this tropical cyclone entered the Madagascan territory.

The bureau said besides loss of lives, the cyclone also forced 37,734 people away from their own homes and they ended up taking refuge in public schools or other private places.

In addition, this bureau indicated it has so far registered 3, 895 cases of homes that were completely destroyed, 2,510 that were damaged and 315 others which were flooded, especially in Vatomandry and Mahanoro districts.

Antananarivo, the Madagascan capital, was equally affected by Giovanna which left one person dead, 23 injured, 3,970 people affected, 114 homes destroyed, 92 others damaged and 104 houses flooded. Two roads in the capital were also submerged by water and eight bridges were damaged, it said.

Giovanna which was a tropical cyclone classified as category 4, entered Madagascar on Tuesday morning at 1:00 a.m. at a speed of 200 km per hour through the eastern town of Brickaville and then left on the same day at around 4:00 p.m. (local time) near the towns of Morondava and Belo-sur-Tsiribihina.

Since Tuesday, the bureau has been working with other national and international partners to give assistance to victims.

Madagascar is situated in the southern hemisphere within a cyclonic basin where about 10 tropical disruptions are formed each year between Nov. 15 and Apr. 30.

Cyclone Geralda which passed through this island nation in February 1994, was the last hurricane of category 4 before hurricane Giovanna, and it claimed 273 lives and made disappear 73 people.

Last year, cyclone Bingiza left at least 34 people dead and 216, 000 others affected, while in 2010, hurricane Hubert resulted in 83 deaths and 187,000 others were affected.

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