The death toll in the French territory of Mayotte from Cyclone Chido is “several hundreds” and could reach the thousands, the island’s top government official told a local broadcaster on Sunday.
France has rushed rescue teams and supplies to its largely impoverished overseas department in the Indian Ocean, which has suffered widespread destruction.
“I think there have been a few hundred deaths, maybe we are close to a thousand. Even thousands… given the violence of this event,” Mayotte prefect François-Xavier Bieuville told the Mayotte la 1ere TV channel.
He had previously said it was the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years.
Bieuville said it was extremely difficult to determine an exact number of deaths and injuries after Mayotte was ravaged by the intense tropical cyclone on Saturday, which caused extensive damage to public infrastructure including the airport, paralyzed neighborhoods and knocked out electricity supplies.
The French Interior Ministry confirmed at least 11 deaths and more than 250 injuries earlier Sunday, but said this was expected to increase significantly.
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Mayotte, in the southwestern Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, is the poorest island in France and the poorest area in the European Union. It has just over 300,000 inhabitants, spread over two main islands.
Bieuville said the worst destruction has been seen in the slums of metal huts 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. However, Mayotte was directly in the cyclone’s path and bore the brunt. According to the French weather service, Chido brought winds of more than 220 km per hour, making it a Category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale.
Chido later made landfall in Mozambique on the African mainland and authorities there said there were fears that more than 2 million people in the north of the country could be affected.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his “thoughts” were with the Mayotte people and that Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau would travel to Mayotte on Monday. Retailleau had warned on Saturday evening 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 in Mayotte had been seriously damaged or destroyed.
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Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims during a visit Sunday to the French island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea.
Rescuers and firefighters were sent from France and the nearby French territory of Réunion, and supplies were also brought in by military aircraft and ships. Damage to the airport’s control tower allowed only military aircraft to fly in.
Patrice Latron, the prefect of Réunion, said authorities plan to build an air and sea bridge from Réunion to Mayotte. About 800 more rescue workers would be sent in the coming days and more than 80 tons of supplies had been flown in or in transit by ship. Some of the priorities included restoring electricity and access to drinking water, Latron said.
The French Interior Ministry said 1,600 police and state police officers have been deployed to “help the population and prevent possible looting.”
In some parts of Mayotte, entire neighborhoods of metal shacks and shacks were razed, while residents reported trees uprooted, boats overturned or sunk and many areas left without power.
Chad Youyou, a resident of Hamjago in the north of the island, posted videos on Facebook showing extensive damage in his village and surrounding fields and hills, where almost every tree had been blown down.
“Mayotte has been destroyed… we have been destroyed,” he said.
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Chido continued its eastward trajectory into northern Mozambique, where it continued to cause serious damage, while further inland, landlocked Malawi and Zimbabwe warned they may have to evacuate people due to flooding.
In Mozambique, UNICEF said Cabo Delgado province, home to about 2 million people, was the first region to be affected and many homes, schools and health facilities were partially or completely destroyed.
UNICEF Mozambique spokesman Guy Taylor said communities faced the prospect of being cut off from schools and health facilities for weeks, and Mozambican authorities warned there was a high risk of landslides.
December to March is cyclone season in the southwestern Indian Ocean and southern Africa has been ravaged by a series of strong cyclones in recent years. Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,300 people in 2019, mainly in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Cyclone Freddy caused more than a thousand deaths last year in several countries in the Indian Ocean and southern Africa.
The cyclones carry the risk of floods and landslides, but stagnant ponds can also later lead to deadly outbreaks of the water-borne diseases cholera, dengue fever and malaria.
Studies say cyclones are getting worse due to climate change. They could leave poor countries in Africa, which contribute only a tiny bit to global warming, behind and face major humanitarian crises. In doing so, they underline their call for more help from rich countries to cope with the consequences of climate change.
