Intense Tropical Cyclone Enawo was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2016–17 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. Enawo was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike Madagascar since Gafilo in 2004, killing 78 people and causing $400 million in damages. Forming as a moderate tropical storm on 3 March, Enawo initially drifted and intensified slowly. It strengthened into a tropical cyclone on 5 March and further an intense tropical cyclone on 6 March. Enawo made landfall over Sava Region on 7 March just after reaching peak intensity, and it emerged back into the Indian Ocean as a post-tropical depression late on 9 March, before dissipating two days later. The most severe impacts were seen in the districts of Antalaha and Maroantsetra.

Very Intense Tropical Cyclone Gafilo was both the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the South-West Indian Ocean and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2004. Being unusually large and intense, Gafilo was the deadliest and most destructive cyclone of the 2003–04 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. According to the EM-DAT International Disaster Database, Gafilo killed at least 363 people. Gafilo also caused about $250 million damages in Madagascar, which makes it one of the most devastating storms to hit the country on reliable record.