On 12 March, the Météo France office in Réunion (MFR) upgraded Honorinina to tropical cyclone status, which is the equivalent of a minimal hurricane.

Honorinina weakened subsequently before making landfall about 40 km (25 mi) north of Toamasina, Madagascar with winds of 135 km/h (84 mph).

Early in its duration, the storm produced gusty winds along St. Brandon, and it later brought gusts of 158 km/h (98 mph) on Tromelin Island.

In Toamasina, the cyclone damaged the main port, the airport, and several warehouses, resulting in $17 million (1986 USD) of lost inventory.

By the next day, satellite imagery indicated that a tropical storm had formed about 635 km (395 mi) south of the island, given the name Honorinina.

[1] On 11 March, the JTWC upgraded Honorinina to the equivalent of a minimal hurricane with 1 minute maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h (75 mph).

[nb 3] On the next day, the MFR followed suit by upgrading the storm to tropical cyclone status while it was passing 175 km (109 mi) north of St. Brandon island.

[3] After a trough passed eastward, a ridge developed south of Honorinina, which reinforced the southwest track toward Madagascar.

While near peak intensity, Honorinina passed about 25 km (15 mph) south of Tromelin Island, and subsequently gradually weakened.

[1] Before moving ashore mainland Madagascar, the cyclone brushed Île Sainte-Marie with gusts of 200 km/h (120 mph) while also dropping 270 mm (11 in) of rainfall over 24 hours.

On mainland Madagascar, damage was heaviest at the port city of Toamasina, where winds also gusted to 200 km/h (120 mph),[1] and rainfall totaled 455.5 mm (17.93 in) over 24 hours.

[7] The cyclone left widespread areas without water or power;[9] the storm damaged electrical transmission and generation facilities.

In response to the request, various governments and international organizations provided assistance to Madagascar, including $490,000 from the European Economic Community for food and blankets, as well as $125,000 from UNICEF for medicine and building supplies.

The nation had earlier helped Madagascar recover from Cyclone Kamisy in 1984 with housing rebuilding projects, and transferred materials due to the impacts from Honorinina to the Toamasina area.