(Bloomberg) -- Madagascar, the world’s biggest vanillaproducer, is being struck by the most intense tropical cyclone tomake landfall on the Indian Ocean island nation in 13 years,according to commercial forecaster Weather Underground.

The storm reached category-four status before reaching thenortheastern coastline about 11 a.m. local time. That’s thesecond-most severe storm classification, which can see winds of 130-156 miles (209-251 kilometers)per hour. Rainfall could exceed 16 inches (406 millimeters) in manyparts of the island during Enawo, as the southern hemisphere’sstrongest cyclone this year is called, according to WeatherUnderground, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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'Worrisome amounts of rain'

Models “have shown some very worrisome amounts of rain falling onheavily populated regions of Madagascar,” said Jeff Masters,Weather Underground’s co-founder. “Enawo has the potential to be atop-five most damaging storm in the island’s history.”

Madagascar has a population of about 24 million with grossdomestic product per capita of $401.8 in 2015, making it among thepoorest nations, according to World Bank data. It’s one of the 10countries most at risk from the effects of global warming,according to the Washington-based lender.

Sherritt International Corp. of Canada, Sumitomo Corp. of Japanand Korea Resources own the Ambatovy nickel mine in theisland’s east. All non-essential personnel have been asked to stayhome because of the cyclone, although operations there arecontinuing, Ambatovy said Tuesday in an emailed response toquestions.

Vanilla production

The facility was in 2016 forecast to produce as much as 50,000 tonsof the metal that’s used to coat stainless steel. The mine said itdoesn’t expect Enawo to have an impact on production. Most ofMadasgacar’s vanilla production is in the northeast, where thestorm has been most intense.

The country is already battling an El Nino-induced drought, with the World FoodProgramme estimating 1.2 million people in the south are havingdifficulty finding food. The U.S. embassy in Antananarivo, thecapital, will be closed until March 10 because of the storm, andcitizens should prepare for at least five days of limitedelectricity and water, according to the State Department.

Tropical cyclones are common in Madagascar. Gafilo, also acategory four, made landfall in 2004, killing 363 people. Dineo,another cyclone, killed at least seven in Mozambique, to the westof Madagascar, last month.

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