Thousands of people may have been killed after Cyclone Chido battered the French archipelago of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, according to the island’s top official.
Communities were flattened when the cyclone swept across the area on Saturday (15 December), with gusts of wind reaching more than 225km/h (140mph).
At least 11 people have died after the cyclone wreaked havoc in the region, according to France’s Interior Ministry – and a hospital in Mayotte said it was treating nine people in a critical condition and 246 others who are injured.
The ministry said it was proving difficult to get a precise tally of the dead and injured and Mayotte Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said the number of dead could rise to thousands due to the “violence of this event.”
He told local TV station La 1ere: “I think there are some several hundred dead, maybe we’ll get close to a thousand, even thousands,” adding it was currently “extremely difficult” to determine the exact numbers of those killed by the extreme weather event.
The French interior ministry said “it will be difficult to account for all victims” and that it could not say how many had been killed at this stage.
The cyclone uprooted trees and damaged makeshift housing, government buildings and a hospital.
Forecaster Meteo-France said the cyclone was the strongest storm to hit the islands in more than 90 years.
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Read MoreFrench President Emmanuel Macron sent his well wishes to the Mayotte people.
He 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.”
Aerial footage shared by the French gendarmerie showed the remains of hundreds of makeshift houses strewn across the hills of one of Mayotte’s islands.
Located nearly 8,000 km (5,000 miles) from Paris and a four-day trip by sea, Mayotte is significantly poorer than the rest of France and has grappled with gang violence and social unrest for decades.
Over 100,000 undocumented migrants live in Mayotte, according to the French interior ministry.
Some 77% of the people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line.
And tensions were stoked earlier this year by a water shortage.
The cyclone went on to hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, but the full extent of its impact there was not clear.
Internet monitor NetBlocks said in a post on X that heavy rain and winds had damaged power and telecommunications infrastructure.
France colonised Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the whole archipelago, including Comoros, in 1904.
Additional reporting by Associated Press.
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