Gafilo was expected to return to the island, this time to the southwest, on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to meteorological officials.

Two people died near the city of Mahajanga in the northwest, state radio news editor Eddy Adriamanoro told AFP, citing correspondents in the affected region.

"They were buried when their house collapsed," he said, adding that five fishermen drowned at sea near Maroantsetra, in the northeast.

Broken phone lines compounded an already poor communications system in limiting information about the crisis reaching the capital to a trickle.

Rescue workers flew from Antananarivo for an initial assessment mission on Monday.

In a phone call with President Marc Ravalomanana, President Jacques Chirac of France, the former colonial power and still the Madagascar's largest trading partner, to discuss humanitarian aid promised by his country.

Ravalomanana's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said a military aircraft was due to begin delivering 12 tonnes of emergency supplies from the nearby French island of Reunion on Monday afternoon.

"In the absence of definitive assessment reports, we can only surmise that Gafilo left significant damage in its wake," Foreign Minister Marcel Ranjeva said at a meeting with foreign diplomats, donors and other international organisations based in the island.

"Faced with this situation, and contrary to the norm, we are appealing to you to show solidarity... even as the cyclone is still on the island and damage assessment has not been finished," he said.

"We believe there will be between 55,000 and 100,000 homeless, and that figure includes those who have not yet recovered from Elita," another storm which hit northern Madagascar last month, said Interior Minister General Soja (Note Eds: no first name).

Elita killed 29 people, injured 100 and left 44,000 homeless in the same region that Gafilo swept through on Sunday, according to the National Rescue Council.

"In addition to the usual needs -- tents, medicine, basic commodities -- it is proving necessary to ask for transport facilities, with air transport taking priority," said Soja.

Tropical cyclone Galifo hit Madagascar on Sunday, blasting powerful winds across the north of the Indian Ocean island.

As the storm swept across the north, the town of Antalaha was hit by winds blowing at 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, with gusts as high as 180 kilometers per hour.

Early Monday, French embassy aide Serge Segura said relief teams from the former colonial power would fly over the area hit by the storm to help assess damage.

On Monday, Gafilo was 100 kilometers (60 miles) offshore the western town of Maintirano at 9:00 am (0600 GMT), with winds averaging 90 kph, gusting up to 115 kph, according to the weather bureau.

"The storm is regaining in intensity as it comes into contact with the warm waters of the Mozambique Channel. It will then turn around and hit Madagascar again on Tuesday or Wednesday in the Tulear region," in the southwest of the island, Alain Razafimahazo, the head of the meteorological service, told the meeting on Monday.

TERRA.WIRE