The full number of deaths from Cyclone Chido in the French overseas territory of Mayotte will not be known for some time, authorities say.
“It will take days and days,” France’s acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Monday during a visit to the archipelago.
The local prefect, François-Xavier Bieuville, told the local radio station on Sunday evening that he thought “at least several hundred” people had died in the storm.
The French overseas territory of Mayotte is located in the Indian Ocean, between the coast of the southeastern African country Mozambique and the island state of Madagascar.
About 310,000 people live on the archipelago. Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte on Saturday with winds of more than 220 kilometers per hour, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
