Rescue efforts are ongoing across Mayotte, with ‘several hundreds’ feared dead after Cyclone Chido slammed into the region – damaging public infrastructure and neighbourhoods
Horrifying images have shown the devastating afterhmath of Cyclone Chido, which left communities flattened and “several hundreds, even thousands” feared dead.
The French overseas territory of Mayotte was pummelled on Saturday by the cyclone with rescue efforts ongoing in the region. The island’s top government official spoke to local broadcasters on Sunday, warning that the death toll could run into the thousands.
“I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we’ll get close to a thousand. Even thousands […] given the violence of this event,″ Mayotte Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville told TV station Mayotte la 1ere. He previously said it was the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years, leaving the region with extensive damage.
France rushed rescue teams and supplies to the largely poor overseas department in the Indian Ocean. Aerial imaes posted by France’s Gendarmerie Nationale on Sunday captured a sear of debris across the small island from a helicopter. Police reinforcements are now being deployed to support rescue and relief efforts already on the ground.
Bieuville said it was extremely difficult to give an exact number of deaths or casualties, but the French Interior Ministry confirmed at least 11 deaths and more than 250 injuries earlier Sunday. It said that figure was expected to increase substantially as the intense tropical cyclone caused major damage to public infrastructure, including the airport, flattening neighbourhoods and knocking out electricity supplies.
Mayotte, in the southwestern Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, is France’s poorest island and the poorest territory in the European Union. It has a population of just over 300,000 spread over two main islands. Bieuville said the worst devastation had been seen in the slums of metal shacks and informal structures that mark much of Mayotte. Referring to the official death toll so far, he said ″this figure is not plausible when you see the images of the slums.”
“I think the human toll is much higher,” he added. Chido blew through the southwestern Indian Ocean on Friday and Saturday, also affecting the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar. Mayotte took the brunt of the storm, being located directly in the cyclone’s path.
According to the French weather service, Chido brought winds in excess of 220 kph (136 mph), making it a category 4 cyclone – the second strongest on the scale. It later made landfall in Mozambique on the African mainland and there were fears for more than 2 million people in the country’s north who could be impacted, according to authorities there.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his “thoughts” were with the Mayotte people and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was due to travel to Mayotte on Monday. Retailleau had warned Saturday night after an emergency meeting in Paris that the death toll “will be high,” while new Prime Minister François Bayrou, who took office on Friday, said infrastructure had been severely damaged or destroyed across Mayotte.
