CAPE TOWN, South Africa >> A community in southern Madagascar has pulled together to save thousands of critically endangered tortoises swept away from their sanctuary and left swimming for their lives in floods this month caused by a tropical cyclone.

The 12,000 radiated and spider tortoises that were housed at the Lavavolo Tortoise Center had been confiscated from illegal wildlife traffickers but faced a new and unexpected ordeal when Cyclone Dikeledi hit the southern part of the Indian Ocean island in mid-January. Flood waters 3.2 feet high engulfed the sanctuary, and the tortoises — many mere whippersnappers in the tortoise world at about 25-50 years old — were carried away.

Sanctuary staff, members of the community and even police officers joined together in a rescue operation, wading through the water with large containers to collect the bewildered tortoises. Some rescuers converted damaged building structures into makeshift rafts for the tortoises to ride on as they moved around to find others.

Hery Razafimamonjiraibe, Madagascar director for the Turtle Survival Alliance, which runs the sanctuary, said they were optimistic that they had saved more than 10,000 tortoises, although they still had to do an official count. That’s not easy, he said, as tortoises can move fast when they want to and rarely cooperate.

The rescuers had recovered around 700 dead tortoises so far, which Razafimamonjiraibe said were trapped by rocks and debris in the floods.

“Fortunately, most of the tortoises were able to float,” Razafimamonjiraibe said. “Tortoises are actually very good swimmers. You should see them.”

While most tortoises have been returned to the sanctuary, the floods were a blow to the center, which has lost much of its infrastructure, said the Turtle Survival Alliance.

Lavavolo Tortoise Center underwent a major renovation in 2018 when authorities seized a group of 10,000 radiated tortoises from wildlife traffickers.