Mayotte cyclone: Aid rushed to French territory after thousands feared dead in ‘horrific’ cyclone
Chido hit Mayotte overnight with winds of more than 200kmph, damaging housing, government buildings and a hospital
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Your support makes all the difference.France was racing to provide aid on Monday after potentially thousands of people were killed by the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century on a small French archipelago off east Africa.
Cyclone Chido struck the islands of Mayotte with 200kmph winds, damaging a hospital, housing and government buildings, but the French interior ministry warned it will be “difficult to account for all the victims” and they could not yet determine a complete death toll.
The number killed may reach a “thousand, even several thousands”, prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told local news channel Mayotte La 1ere, after what forecaster Meteo-France said was the strongest storm to hit the archipelago in more than 90 years.
French interior minister Bruno Retailleau arrived in Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, on Monday morning. He told French media it would take “days and days” to establish the true scale of the impact of the cyclone.
The French military has begun rushing medical personnel and emergency workers to the island, airlifting people and supplies from Reunion island – another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar.
French authorities said more than 800 more personnel were expected to arrive in the coming days as rescuers comb through the devastation caused by Chido when it hit the densely populated archipelago of around 300,000 people on Saturday.
Mr Bieuville said the island’s poorer slum neighbourhoods, consisting of metal shacks and other informal structures, had been hit particularly badly by the cyclone.
Elsewhere entire neighbourhoods of houses have been flattened, and the electricity supply to the island has largely been knocked out.
The main airport has suffered significant damage, including its airport control tower. It means only military aircraft can fly into the island, further complicating disaster response efforts.
French president Emmanuel Macron said: “My thoughts are with our compatriots in Mayotte, who have gone through the most horrific few hours, and who have, for some, lost everything, lost their lives.”
Sebastien Lecornu, the French minister of the armed forces, said on X: “For the accommodation of emergency services, three structures capable of accommodating 150 people are on site, with an additional one currently on its way,” adding that military rations and generators were also being provided.
Nicolas Daragon, France’s minister for everyday security, confirmed on X early on Monday that the first planes providing emergency aid had arrived. “The State is fully mobilised to support the inhabitants of Mayotte in this ordeal,” he said.
Mayotte has become a focal point for illegal immigration from the nearby Comoros islands, with more than 100,000 undocumented migrants in the French archipelago, the French interior ministry says.
Ascertaining a precise death toll is difficult, a French official said, because Mayotte is a “Muslim land where the dead are buried within 24 hours”. There are also concerns about access to food, water and sanitation in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
Nearly 8,000km (5,000 miles) from Paris and four days away by sea, Mayotte is significantly poorer than the rest of France and has been gripped by gang violence and social unrest for decades.
More than three quarters of the roughly 320,000 residents live under the poverty line, and earlier this year tensions ran high following a water shortage.
On Sunday, the cyclone slammed northern Mozambique, making landfall around 40km south of the northern city of Pemba, the weather agency said.
Bringing winds of over 200kmph and heavy rain, the intense tropical cyclone threatened 1.7 million people living in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa areas of the country, the International Organization for Migration said.
Unicef Mozambique spokesperson Guy Taylor said many homes, schools and health facilities were partially or completely damaged and they were working with the government to provide aid. He said communities in the country faced the risk of being cut off from schools and health facilities for weeks.
Mozambique authorities warned that there was a high danger of landslides.
Internet monitor NetBlocks said power and telecommunications infrastructure had been damaged by heavy rain and winds.
In Comoros, two people were injured, 24 displaced and 24 homes destroyed, according to authorities.
Mayotte was colonised by the French in 1843, and the entire archipelago, including Comoros, was annexed in 1904. A referendum in 1974 saw 63 per cent of Mayotte vote to stay French, while 95 per cent of the archipelago supported separation. Grand Comore, Anjouan and Moheli declared independence in 1975.
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