 The 1999 – 2000 South @-@ West Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season was the first on record in which two storms – Leon – Eline and Hudah – struck Mozambique at tropical cyclone intensity , or with maximum sustained winds of at least 120 km / h ( 75 mph ) . The most notable storm of the season was Eline , which was the longest @-@ lasting storm on record in the basin . It lasted for 29 days while traversing the southern Indian Ocean , making the strongest landfall in decades along eastern Madagascar in late February . The storm was the first in a series of three storms that struck the country in early 2000 , along with Gloria in March and Hudah in April . Collectively , the three storms killed at least 316 people . The season started on November 1 , 1999 , and ended for most of the basin on April 30 , 2000 ; for Mauritius and the Seychelles , the season continued until May 15 . These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the basin ; 
