Residents of Mayotte have spoken of “apocalyptic scenes” caused by the worst storm in 90 years to hit the French Indian Ocean territory.
Cyclone Chido brought winds of more than 225 km/h (140 mph), flattening areas where the poorest lived in sheet steel roof huts.
“We have had no water for three days now,” said a resident of the capital Mamoudzou. “Some of my neighbors are hungry and thirsty,” said another.
Rescue workers, including reinforcements from France, are combing through the rubble for survivors. Twenty deaths have been confirmed, but the local prefect said it could be in the thousands.
Authorities said they were having difficulty determining the number of deaths due to the large number of undocumented migrants (more than 100,000) in a population of 320,000.
Widespread damage to infrastructure – with downed power lines and impassable roads – is severely hampering emergency operations.
Supplies are coming in, but in some areas there are serious shortages of food, water and shelter. About 85% of the territory is still without power, and about 20% of phones appear to be working. Some areas are starting to get piped water.
But for Amalia Mazon, a 27-year-old midwife from Brussels who has worked at the island’s central hospital, access to drinking water and food remains a problem.
“The water here is completely yellow. It is unusable for us,” Ms Mazon told the BBC.
“We feel completely abandoned and we don’t even know if help will come. We have no news, we have no idea,” the midwife added.
Acting French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq said the archipelago’s healthcare system had “deteriorated” by the cyclone.
France colonized Mayotte in 1841 – and added the three main islands that form the Comoros Archipelago to its overseas territories by the early 20th century.
The Comoros voted for independence in 1974, but Mayotte decided to remain part of France.
The island’s population is heavily dependent on French financial aid and has suffered from poverty, unemployment and political instability.
About 75% of the population lives below the national poverty line and unemployment hovers around one in three.
“The images are apocalyptic. It is a disaster, there is nothing left,” a nurse from the main hospital in Mamoudzou told BFM TV.
John Balloz, a resident of Mamoudzou, said he was surprised he did not die when the cyclone hit.
“Everything is damaged, almost everything, the water treatment plant, electricity pylons, there is a lot to do.”
Mohamed Ishmael, who also lives in the capital, told Reuters: “You feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I saw a whole neighborhood disappear.”
“It is hunger that worries me most,” Mayotte senator Salama Ramia told French media. “There are people who haven’t eaten or drunk anything since Saturday,” she said.
The scale of the destruction is overwhelming, officials say, as rescuers search for survivors [Getty Images]
Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the island’s prefect, told local media that the death toll could rise significantly once the damage was fully assessed. He warned it would be “certainly several hundred” and could reach the thousands.
Mayotte’s impoverished communities, including undocumented migrants who have traveled to the French territory in an attempt to claim asylum, are likely to be particularly hard hit due to the vulnerable nature of their housing.
The Muslim tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours also meant it was more difficult to document the number of people killed, the prefect said.
In addition to aid, 110 French soldiers have arrived to assist in the rescue effort, with another 160 on their way. About 800 others from the ranks of volunteers who helped during emergencies were also sent to local police units.
After arriving in Mayotte, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it would take “days and days” to determine human losses.
The relief operation is coordinated from Réunion, another French overseas territory.
French Red Cross spokesman Eric Sam Vah told the BBC the situation was “chaotic”.
He said the organization had been able to reach only 20 of the 200 Red Cross volunteers in Mayotte and reiterated fears about the total number of deaths.
“The entirety of the slums has been completely destroyed. We have received no reports of people being displaced, so the reality could be dire in the coming days,” the spokesperson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Schools were among the buildings severely affected [Getty Images]
Cyclone Chido also made landfall in Mozambique, causing flash flooding, uprooting trees and damaging buildings, about 40 kilometers south of the northern city of Pemba. Three deaths have been reported.
The cyclone caused structural damage and power outages in the northern coastal provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado on Saturday morning, local authorities said.
Guy Taylor, spokesman for aid agency Unicef in Mozambique, said: “We were hit very hard in the early hours this morning.”
“Many houses have been destroyed or seriously damaged, and healthcare facilities and schools are out of order,” he added.
Taylor said Unicef was concerned about “the loss of access to critical services”, including medical treatment, clean water and sanitation, as well as “the spread of diseases such as cholera and malaria”.
[BBC]
Chido is the latest deadly storm with such high intensity.
It strengthened as it made its long journey across the ocean, said Sarah Keith-Lucas of the BBC Weather Centre. The cyclone would have weakened had it made landfall in Madagascar’s rugged terrain.
But it’s also true that climate change has consequences — not necessarily in the frequency of storms, but in their strength, says Keith-Lucas.
The storm has now been downgraded to a “depression” and will pass southern Malawi and then Mozambique’s Tete province before heading towards Zimbabwe overnight on Tuesday.
150-300mm of rain is still possible late Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Eva van Dam.
