Hundreds or even thousands of people may have died when Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, local authorities say. The French Interior Ministry stated that it could not determine the number of victims at this stage. It is the strongest cyclone to hit the island, inhabited by over 300,000 people, in almost a century.
Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte, located between Madagascar and Mozambique, on Saturday with winds exceeding 220 kilometers per hour.
On Sunday, 14 confirmed deaths were reported. However, authorities fear that their number is actually much higher. – I think there will definitely be several hundred, maybe even a thousand, or even several thousand, said the prefect of Mayotte Francois-Xavier Bieuville in an interview with the local station Mayotte la 1ere.
When asked about such a large number of deaths, the French Ministry of the Interior said that at this stage it was impossible to determine the exact number of people who died. The ministry noted that an accurate estimate of the number of victims would be difficult because, according to the Muslim tradition, strongly rooted in Mayotte, the dead must be buried within 24 hours.
Destruction in Mayotte after the cycloneSécurité Civile France/X
“Houses are completely destroyed”
The disaster devastated hundreds of makeshift houses in the slum district. Mayotte, located over eight thousand kilometers from Paris, is the poorest French department. It is also the direction of illegal immigration from the islands of the Comoros archipelago. According to data from the French Ministry of Interior, there are over 100,000 illegal immigrants living in Mayotte. It has a total population of over 300,000. people, of which approximately 77 percent inhabitants live below the poverty line.
Many municipal installations are destroyed or damaged. The AFP agency reported that immigrants living in slum areas often did not report to designated shelters, contrary to the authorities' recommendations, because they feared that it was a trap aimed at detaining them and expelling them from the island.
Residents of Mayotte – which consists of two islands and about 30 smaller uninhabited islets – have no electricity or water.
Destruction in Mayotte after the cyclonePAP/EPA/ETAT-MAJOR DES ARMEE
French patrol in Mayotte PAP/EPA/ETAT-MAJOR DES ARMEE
Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, the mayor of Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, said the cyclone “didn't spare anything in its path.” “The houses are completely destroyed,” he said. Most roads are impassable.
Local media reported “significant damage” to the Dzaoudzi-Pamandzi international airport and the island's largest hospital.
The head of the French Interior Ministry, Bruno Retailleau, is scheduled to visit the site on Monday. President Emmanuel Macron assured that he was closely monitoring the situation.
The strongest cyclone in almost a century
Chido is the strongest and most destructive tropical cyclone to hit Mayotte since 1934.
The cyclone season in the Indian Ocean region lasts from December to March. In this part of the world, only about six percent is produced annually. global tropical cyclones, but they are among the most destructive, causing widespread destruction in densely populated countries along their path – from Mauritius, through the Comoros archipelago and Madagascar, to Mozambique and the southern part of Tanzania. Cyclones rarely strike inland.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/ETAT-MAJOR DES ARMEE