Several hundred people, and possibly even thousands, may have been killed as the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, a senior local French official said Sunday.
“I think there will definitely be many hundreds of people, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousand,” Prefect Francois-Xavier Beauville said on local media channel Mayotte la 1ère.
Asked about the death toll from Cyclone Chido, the French Interior Ministry said “it would be difficult to account for all victims” and that no figures could be determined at this stage.
Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight, with winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph), causing damage to housing, government buildings and a hospital, Météo-France said. Forecasters said it was the most powerful storm to hit the islands in more than 90 years.
“Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are after a nuclear war… I saw entire neighborhoods disappearing,” Mohamed Ismail, a resident of Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte, told Reuters by phone. Saw it happen.”
Aerial footage shared by the French Gendarmerie showed the debris of hundreds of makeshift homes scattered on the hills of one of the islands of Mayotte, which has been a focal point of illegal immigration from nearby Comoros.
Local media images showed a mother pushing a newborn baby’s cradle through a flooded corridor of a Mayotte hospital. Overturned police boats lay on the shore while coconut trees were toppled over the roofs of many buildings.
French President Emmanuel Macron said, “My sympathies are with our compatriots in Mayotte, who have gone through the most horrific few hours, and who, for some, have lost everything, lost their lives.”
Over the past few decades, thousands of people have attempted to move from the Comoros to Mayotte, off the coast of East Africa, where there is a higher standard of living and access to the French welfare system.
According to the French Interior Ministry, more than 100,000 undocumented migrants live in Mayotte.
Officials said it was difficult to ascertain the exact death toll following the cyclone, which also raised concerns over access to food, water and sanitation.
“It’s going to be complicated for the toll, because Mayotte is a Muslim land where the dead are buried within 24 hours,” a French interior ministry official said earlier.
Located about 8,000 km (5,000 miles) from Paris, Mayotte is significantly poorer than the rest of France and has struggled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.
More than three-quarters of people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line. Earlier this year, tension had arisen due to water shortage.
The government said an air bridge was being built to Reunion Island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar.
The disaster is the first challenge facing Prime Minister Francois Bayrou just days after he was nominated by Macron following the collapse of the previous government.
The cyclone hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, but the full extent of the impact was not clear. Internet monitor Netblocks said on Twitter that heavy rains and winds had damaged power and telecommunications infrastructure.
Officials said two people were slightly injured, 24 were displaced and 21 homes were destroyed in Comoros.
France captured Mayotte in 1843 and the entire archipelago, including Comoros, in 1904.
In the 1974 referendum, 95% supported separation but 63% on Mayotte voted to remain French. Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli declared independence in 1975. Mayotte is still ruled from Paris.
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