Category 3 Bingiza hits Madagascar Tropical Cyclone Bingiza
roared ashore over Northern Madagascar early today as a
dangerous Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds. Recent
microwave imagery from NASA's TRMM satellite shows that Bingza
had a large region of heavy rains of 0.4 - 0.7 inches per hour
in the eyewall and inner spiral bands at landfall. Rainfall
amounts of up to 8 inches are being predicted along Bingza's
path over northern Madagascar for the coming 24 hours by NOAA's
automated tropical cyclone rainfall prediction system. Rains of
this magnitude are capable of causing dangerous flooding in
Madagascar, and the storm's winds and storm surge likely caused
serious damage in the moderately populated area where the storm
came ashore. Bingiza will weaken today as it traverses the
island, but is expected to re-intensify once it emerges over the
Mozambique Channel between Africa and Madagascar on Tuesday,
where sea surface temperatures are about 0.4°C above average. As
the storm skirts the western coast of