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In October 2015, the Northeast Pacific Ocean produced its most potent hurricane on record: Patricia. In February 2016, Cyclone Winston pounded Fiji as the strongest storm in the Southwest Pacfic. Now the Indian Ocean has a new record-breaker.In a year with one of the strongest El Niños ever observed and the hottest air temperatures on record, Cyclone Fantala just became the most potent cyclone ever recorded in the Indian Ocean. (Note: Reliable records only date back to 1990.) From April 15 to 18, the storm hovered between category 4 and 5 while drifting northeast of Madagascar.Wind speeds reached an estimated 150 knots (170 miles or 280 kilometers per hour) on April 18, as reported by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. That record was set just a few hours before the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a natural-color image (above) of Fantala at 1:25 p.m. local time (10:25 Universal Time) on April 18, 2016.
Seychelles authorities declare Farquhar islands disaster areas after Cyclone Fantala hits twice (Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles government on Wednesday declared a group of southerly outer islands lashed hard by the intense tropical cyclone Fantala as disaster areas. Significant damages were reported on Farquhar island Monday after Fantala made landfall Sunday evening with winds up to 350km/h. Only four cyclone-proof facilities on the island -- which lies more than 700 kilometers south of the Seychelles main island, Mahe --survived the storm. -- snip --Fantala struck twiceThe powerful tropical cyclone struck Farquhar a second time on Tuesday, Glenny Savy, the Chief Executive of the Island Development Company (IDC), told a news conference on Wednesday. “Luckily the intensity was a bit less the second time, but [Farquhar] still experienced strong winds from 9pm to up to around three-four o'clock in the morning,” said Savy.