When Cyclone Jaya came ashore over northern Madagascar on April 2, 2007, it was the fourth cyclone to do so since December 2006. Three other cyclones passed near enough to drench the southern African island nation. Two weeks before Jaya struck, Cyclone Indlala cut across the island. Favio and Gamede brought rain to the region in February, and Clovis, Bondo, and Anita all struck Madagascar in December. The cumulative effect of the seven cyclones was widespread flooding and displacement in the northern half of the country, reported the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

This pair of images compares rainfall totals from December 1, 2006, to April 5, 2007, with the average totals recorded between 1997 and 2006. The anomaly reveals that northern Madagascar and parts of mainland Africa received more rain than normal, particularly along the tracks of the storms. The southern half of Madagascar was in extreme drought, which is also illustrated by this image. The pale yellow regions indicate where less rain fell than normal.

The lower image illustrates rainfall contributed by tropical cyclones. The tropical cyclone rainfall totals are shown from November 30, 2006, when Cyclone Anita formed, to April 5, 2007, as Cyclone Jaya was dissipating.

The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is used to monitor rainfall over the global tropics. The MPA analysis indicates that the highest amount of rainfall from an individual tropical cyclone was from Indlala which added an amazing 700mm (about 27.6 inches) to the total seasonal rainfall. The highest rainfall from all tropical cyclones in the 2006-2007 season is shown in red and is concentrated in northern Madagascar where the storms came ashore and tropical cyclone tracks overlapped. During the five-month period of the MPA analyses, up to 790.6 millimeters (31.1 inches) of rain was added by tropical cyclones to totals off the northeast coast of Madagascar.