Rescue workers and supplies are being rushed in by air and sea, but their efforts are likely to be hindered by damage to airports and electricity distribution in a territory where even clean drinking water was already subject to chronic shortages.
Nine people were gravely wounded and fighting for their lives in hospital, said Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, mayor of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, while 246 more were seriously injured.
Mayotte’s 320,000 residents were ordered into lockdown as cyclone Chido bore down on the islands around 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Mozambique.
Electricity poles were hurled to the ground, trees uprooted and sheet-metal roofs and walls torn off improvised structures inhabited by at least one-third of the population.
Information from the locked-down population, in shock and largely cut off from water and electricity supplies, is slow to filter out, a source familiar with the recovery effort told AFP.
“Even the largest companies have suffered damage,“ he added.
Retailleau will travel to Mayotte on Monday, his office said, alongside 160 soldiers and firefighters to reinforce the 110 already deployed to the islands from mainland France ahead of the storm.
Pope Francis, visiting French Mediterranean island Corsica on Sunday, urged people to pray for Mayotte residents.
More than 15,000 homes are without electricity, acting Environment Minister Agnes-Pannier Runacher has said, while telephone access is severely limited even for emergency calls.
Storm hits Mozambique
Cyclone Chido later slammed into Mozambique early Sunday, bringing gale-force winds and heavy rain when it made landfall around 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the northern city of Pemba, weather services said.
UNICEF said it was on the ground to help the people impacted by the storm, which had already caused some damage.
Cyclone Chido is the latest in a string of storms worldwide to be fuelled by climate change, according to experts.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday it was similar in strength to cyclones Gombe in 2022 and Freddy in 2023, which killed more than 60 people and at least 86 in Mozambique respectively.
Zimbabwe and Zambia were also expected to see heavy rains, it added.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( At least 14 killed as Cyclone Chido devastates Mayotte )
Also on site :