Intense Tropical Cyclone Batsirai was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike Madagascar since Enawo in 2017 and the strongest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2022 thus far, and the second of tropical cyclones to impact Madagascar in the 2021–22 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season.[1][2] The second tropical disturbance, first tropical cyclone and the first intense tropical cyclone of the season, Batsirai formed from a tropical disturbance first noted on 24 January. It fluctuated in intensity and became a moderate tropical storm on 27 January, after which it unexpectedly intensified into an intense tropical cyclone.