Over the following few days, the depression underwent gradual intensification, reaching its peak intensity with ten-minute sustained winds of 205 km/h (127 mph) on 31 January.

In late January 1994, the south Indian Ocean Intertropical Convergence Zone produced widespread convection from the eastern coast of Africa to Indonesia.

[1] Late on 25 January, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)[nb 2] began monitoring a low-pressure area about halfway between Madagascar and Indonesia, later giving it the designation 13S.

At that time, the storm was moving generally west-southwestward due to a ridge extending from Madagascar to the Mascarene Islands.

[3] Continuing generally to the west-southwest, Geralda intensified further, and MFR upgraded it to intense tropical cyclone status on 30 January.

[1] At 0600 UTC on 31 January, the JTWC estimated peak 1–minute sustained winds of 270 km/h (165 mph), equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Based on this, MFR estimated a minimum barometric pressure of 905 mbar (26.7 inHg) and peak 10–minute winds of 205 km/h (125 mph),[1][5] just shy of very intense tropical cyclone status.

Near peak intensity, the center of Geralda passed about 45 km (28 mi) northwest of Tromelin Island, offshore eastern Madagascar.

[6] Geralda weakened rapidly over the mountainous terrain of Madagascar, passing over the capital Antananarivo late on 2 February; both the JTWC and MFR had downgraded the cyclone to tropical depression status by the next day.

However, a trough soon turned it to the south, and Geralda crossed over western Madagascar, reaching open waters on 5 February.

[7] An early estimate indicated that 95% of schools, homes, and churches sustained severe damage to complete destruction in the city, leaving 50,000 people homeless.

The combined impact of Geralda and earlier Cyclone Daisy damaged or destroyed more than 40,000 homes,[1] leaving at least 356,000 people homeless.

[1] In the aftermath, there was no pre-existing method of dealing with a storm of such magnitude, and most local governments failed to respond immediately due to lack of coordination.

[8] The Malagasy government worked with the United Nations to create a committee, which met weekly and addressed various facets of the recovery.

[8] Malagasy officials deployed members of the military to help storm victims, although damaged roads initially hampered relief efforts.

[6] Médecins Sans Frontières helped assure the cleanliness of shelters in Antananarivo, while CARE delivered food to residents in Brickaville.

[6] By about two weeks after the storm's landfall, water and power service were being restored in Toamasina, although by that time, 40% of the communications network remained offline.