Madagascar cyclone Gamane kills at least 18, displaces thousands, government says

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) -A tropical cyclone that swept across the island of Madagascar this week killed at least 18 people and displaced thousands more, the country's disaster management office said on Friday.

Tropical cyclone Gamane, which crossed the northeast of Madagascar on Wednesday and Thursday, displaced more than 20,000 people, the National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC) said in a report. Three others were injured and four were still missing, it added.

Gamane made landfall north of Vohémar in northeast Madagascar on Wednesday morning with average winds of 150 km per hour and gusts of 210 km per hour, BNGRC said late on Thursday.

It slowly dissipated on Thursday afternoon while still over land, the disaster management office said, having dumped heavy rain and caused flooding in many localities.

Roads and bridges collapsed in the north of Madagascar, BNRGC said.

Photographs posted on the disaster management office's Facebook page showed its personnel wading in knee-deep water as they helped residents retrieve belongings from their flooded homes.

Gamane is the first this year in Madagascar's cyclone and storm season.

Early last year, cyclone Freddy and tropical storm Cheneso killed at least 37 people and forced thousands from their homes.

(Reporting by Lovasoa Rabary; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)