Tropical Cyclone Elita was the fifth named storm of the 2003–04 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. It developed in the Mozambique Channel on January 24, 2004. Elita strengthened to tropical cyclone status before striking northwestern Madagascar on January 28. It caused 33 deaths across the island and left more than 500,000 homeless.
About Cyclone Elita in brief
Tropical Cyclone Elita was the fifth named storm of the 2003–04 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. It developed in the Mozambique Channel on January 24, 2004. Elita strengthened to tropical cyclone status before striking northwestern Madagascar on January 28. It was the first storm to strike western Madagascar at that intensity since Cyclone Cynthia in 1991. Over 50,000 people were left homeless, primarily in Mahajanga and Toliara provinces. Flooding from the storm ruined more than 450 km² of agricultural land, including important crops for food. Across the island, the cyclone caused 33 deaths, with its impact further compounded by Cyclone Gafilo about two months later. The remnant system moved erratically before dissipating on February 13. It left a trail of destruction in its wake, with more than 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed in Madagascar and Malawi. It also brought rainfall and damage to the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Réunion, and its outer wind circulation produced rough seas and strong gusts in the Indian Ocean.
The remnants of Elita have been classified as a tropical depression by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the Météo-France meteorological office in Réunion. It has been named Elita by the MFR in post-season analysis, and the JTWC in the Atlantic Ocean as Tropical Cyclone 09S. It is the only cyclone to have been named after a tropical storm in the South-west Indian Ocean during the 2003-04 season. The storm is also the only one to be named after an Indian Ocean typhoon in the same season, as it was the only tropical storm to make landfall in South Africa in 2004. It made its final landfall on February 3 along southwestern Madagascar, two days after it underwent an extratropical transition; subsequently, the remnant system dissipated on February 12. It caused 33 deaths across the island and left more than 500,000 homeless in Madagascar, Mozambiques, and Malawi. The cyclone also caused damage in the Selecao and Malawian islands.
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This page is based on the article Cyclone Elita published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
