Close to 1,000 people may have been killed after Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, according to the island’s top official.
Mayotte Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told local TV: “I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we’ll get close to a thousand, even thousands… given the violence of this event.”
However, he said it was currently “extremely difficult” to get an exact number.
Emergency workers sent from France and the nearby French department of Reunion are racing to find survivors and restore services due to the worst cyclone to hit the island in nearly a century.
France is using ships and military aircraft as part of its response.
French civil security spokesperson Alexandre Jouassard told the France 2 news channel: “The next minutes and hours are very important.
“We are used to working in these conditions, and a few days after, you have pockets of survivors.”
Chido caused extensive damage on Saturday, with the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar also affected, and the cyclone has now hit Mozambique.
Image: Gendarmes are seen clearing a road in Mayotte. Pic: AP
Forecaster Meteo-France said Chido was the strongest storm to hit the islands in more than 90 years.
Winds of more than 124mph (200kmh) ripped roofs off houses and destroyed numerous buildings.
Mayotte is an impoverished overseas department of France and is spread over two main islands about 500 miles (805km) off Africa’s east coast.
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Aerial view of cyclone damage.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Image: Many makeshift homes were destroyed. Pic: Medecins du Monde via AP
President Emmanuel Macron said: “My thoughts are with our compatriots in Mayotte, who have gone through the most horrific few hours, and who have, for some, lost everything, lost their lives.”
Mr Macron is due to hold an emergency meeting about the crisis at around 6pm local time.
It comes as the main airport and hospital suffered major damage in the cyclone, said new prime minister Francois Bayrou.
He said many people living in precarious shacks in slum areas had been at serious risk from the cyclone.
Image: The scene in Mamoudzou, Mayotte. Pic: Reuters
Image: A man carries his belongings as rescuers try to clear a road in Labattoir, Mayotte. Pic: Reuters
Video from the French gendarmerie showed the wreckage of hundreds of makeshift houses littered across hills.
Mohamed Ishmael, who lives in Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, told Reuters news agency: “Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I saw an entire neighbourhood disappear.”
One hospital in Mayotte reported nine people were in a critical condition and another 246 were injured.
Image: France soldiers on Mayotte as part of the response to the cyclone. Pic: AP
Image: Gendarmes drive through a trail of destruction. Pic: AP
However, France’s interior ministry said it was proving difficult to get a precise tally of casualties.
Meanwhile, the cyclone has largely knocked out internet access on the island which has been “almost entirely offline for over 36 hours”, according to NetBlocks.
The internet monitor added that connectivity is at around “16% of ordinary levels”.
France sends reinforcements and aid
The ministry said 1,600 police and gendarmerie officers had been sent to help local rescuers and firefighters from Mayotte and nearby Reunion.
Supplies were also being rushed in on military aircraft and ships.
Image: France has sent reinforcements to help the rescue and recovery effort. Pic: AP
Image: Aid is being flow in from mainland France: Pic: AP
Mayotte has a population of just over 300,000 and more than 100,000 are undocumented migrants, according to the French interior ministry.
It’s the country’s poorest region and has struggled with drought, underinvestment and gang violence for decades.
Cyclone Chido has now made landfall in Mozambique on the African mainland, where the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Cabo Delgado province, home to around two million people, had been hit hard.
What are cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons?
All three storms are powerful tropical cyclones which are given a different name depending on where they are in the world.
Meteorologists use the term tropical cyclone to describe a rotating, organised system of clouds and thunderstorms that originate over tropical or subtropical waters and have closed, low-level circulation and are fed by warm air.
The storm is referred to as either a cyclone, a hurricane or a typhoon once it reaches maximum sustained winds of 74mph or higher.
The term cyclone is used when the storms occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
They are referred to as typhoons when they appear in the Northwest Pacific.
The word hurricane is used when the storms appear in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific and eastern North Pacific.
“Many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed and we are working closely with government to ensure continuity of essential basic services,” the organisation said.
“While we are doing everything we can, additional support is urgently needed.”
UNICEF Mozambique spokesman Guy Taylor said in a video that communities now face the prospect of being cut off from schools and health facilities for weeks.
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Malawi and Zimbabwe have also made emergency plans, with both warning they may have to evacuate low-lying areas due to flooding.
December until March is cyclone season in the southeastern Indian Ocean, and southern Africa has been pummelled by a series of strong storms in recent years.
In 2019, Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,300 in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, while Cyclone Freddy left more than 1,000 dead across several countries last year.
The cyclones bring the risk of flooding and landslides, and stagnant water may later cause outbreaks of the waterborne disease cholera as well as dengue fever and malaria.
Studies say the cyclones are getting worse because of climate change.
They can leave poor countries in southern Africa, which contribute a tiny amount to global warming, having to deal with large humanitarian crises – underlining their call for more help from rich nations.
Source : Sky News
