Emergency workers raced on Monday to restore basic services to the French overseas territory of Mayotte, where hundreds or even thousands are feared dead from the most powerful cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island in nearly a century.
Maritime and aerial operations were underway to transport relief supplies and equipment, French authorities said late on Sunday, after Cyclone Chido slammed into the islands with winds of more than 200 kph (124 mph).
“The first intervention planes arrive in Mayotte to provide emergency aid in the face of the damage caused by the cyclone. The State is fully mobilized to support the inhabitants of Mayotte in this ordeal,” Nicolas Daragon, France’s minister for everyday security, said on X.
The extent of casualties and physical damage on the islands, which lie between Madagascar and Mozambique, remained unclear.
The prefect of Mayotte, Francois-Xavier Bieuville, said on Sunday that the death toll would “certainly be several hundred, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand.”
Authorities had also established an air bridge between Mayotte and Reunion Island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar, said Sebastien Lecornu, the French minister of the armed forces.
“For the accommodation of emergency services, three structures capable of accommodating 150 people are on site, with an additional one currently on its way,” Lecornu said on X late Sunday, adding that military rations and generators were also being provided.
The storm was the strongest to strike Mayotte in more than 90 years, the French weather service, Meteo France said. One resident on Sunday likened the scene to a nuclear apocalypse.
The wreckage of hundreds of makeshift houses was strewn across hillsides, coconut trees had crashed through building roofs, and hospital corridors were flooded, according to images from local media and the French gendarmerie.
Located nearly 8,000km (5,000 miles) from Paris, Mayotte is a major destination for undocumented immigrants from nearby Comoros. It is significantly poorer than the rest of France and has grappled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.
France colonized Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the four large islands of the Comoros archipelago in 1904. The rest of the archipelago voted for independence in a 1974 referendum, but Mayotte decided to remain under French control.
